The Liar, the Thief, the Hero?
by Swinelord
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki left his village at a young age in search of adventure, and fame, however, twelve years of looking out only for himself has shaped his personality to a nearly unrecognizable point. Now finding himself in Fiore with a massive twenty million jewel bounty for his head he stands alone against an entire world where the only person he can trust is himself.
1. Intro

**ALL CHAPTERS HAVE BEEN UPDATED! Don't expect too many differences as I've only really focused on grammatical errors. I will say though that chapters 18 and 19 got some changes and I'm currently writing a** **new ending as of 12/30/17. The current chapter 20 is still up and will be up until I can finish the new chapter 20.**

 **Now I will say, I haven't gone through the whole story to double check for errors as of the date above. If you see any, no worries, I'll likely catch it once I go through my story again.**

* * *

 **The Liar, the Cheat, the Thief, the One and Only Naruto Uzumaki!**

* * *

The cries of six men could be heard traveling throughout the dense patch of forest as they pursued a blond man who looked to be in his early twenties. "Filthy thief," one man cried. "Thieving scumbag," cried another. All shouts of profanities and foul comments seemingly bounced off the man's shoulders as he continued to run. He kept a fierce grip on a large bag with a yellow jewel sign printed on it as he weaved around the trees in an attempt to shake away his pursuers.

He did all of this with a smirk as if he lived for this line of work. Eventually, the man came to a stop when a rock no larger than an insect managed to trip him, causing him to fall face first into a puddle of water left over from a storm that had since passed.

"He's down!" one of the six men shouted, brandishing a knife. "I'll gut you, kid! No one steals from us!"

In response, the man rolled sideways to avoid his irritate adversary's downward thrust with his knife and quickly pushed himself to his feet as the rest of his pursuers surrounded him.

'It's no use.' the blond thought. 'If I keep this up these guys might actually kill me.' It had been some time since he last found himself stuck in a situation like this. A small smile made its way onto the thief's face as slipped into a more battle worthy stance.

One brave soul stepped up to challenge the thief. "Well now boys, it looks like we're having a feast tonight! In our sights is the one and only Naruto Uzumaki!"

"The one with the twenty million jewel bounty," one man whispered to another. "I-if we pull this off then we'll be filthy rich!"

"Psh," the cloaked young man began, "you think the council is gonna want to talk to some hired thugs like you? Please! They're all too busy making laws and spending your tax dollars. The chances of you getting to talk to even one of them are about as high as the stupid looking one behind me learning basic math!" he taunted, "Hey buddy!" he said turning to face the man, "What's two plus two?"

"I'LL KILL YOU!" the thug cried as he brandished his blade.

"Hold up idiot!" a deep voice called over, "He just want's you to get pissed to we can get sloppy! That's how he always manages to give people the slip remember, but we're better him!"

This caused the man who was about to strike to take a few steps back. "Right s-sorry boss!"

Naruto meanwhile had begun to observe the situation making note of small things he could use to escape. 'Six guys, all armed with four-foot swords in one hand and knives in the other. Leaves me with very little breathing room,' he thought before swiftly dodging a strike aimed to slice him in two. 'Now's my chance!'

Much to Naruto's annoyance, one of the men filled in the small gap in their formation.

Naruto grit his teeth. 'They're organized...'

"Look, kid, the wanted posters say DEAD or ALIVE so you can give up now and come quietly or you could try your luck and die!"

"Well, I guess you leave me no choice," Naruto said as he discarded his cloak. "I'll just have to use my magic on you!"

"What? You're lying! The reports say-" the leader was cut off when Naruto suddenly cut in.

"Well the reports are wrong," he stated as he raised his free hand high.

The clouds became dark and foreboding, lightning struck in the distance, and an overwhelming feeling of dread washed over the blond's pursuers. "You're dead."

The hired thugs began to cower and shake in fear as they started begging for their life. A few even had the guts to drop their weapons and flee.

"You... are you ready to die," Naruto asked the leader.

"P-please I have a f-family," the leader said, visibly terrified.

The blond began to cackle like a madman and slowly walk a towards the man. "Any last words?" When he received whimper in response, he two-handed the bag slung over his shoulder, raised it high and brought it down into the leader's skull.

A chilly breeze swept through the forest, ruffling the grass and disturbing the tree leaves. The men looked on in shock, not at their leader for having been dispatched, but rather at the item used to dispatch him.

"Magic, pft, who needs it when you have a bag full of gold bars?"

"YOU BASTARD IM GONNA KILL YOU!" one man cried as the others followed in his footsteps all simultaneously emitting battle cries.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" the blond chanted as he struggled to regain his balance before taking off "Haha! You guys are a bunch of dumbasses! All brawn and no brains," he shouted before unwittingly slamming his face into a tree, accidentally losing his grip on the bag and spilling a good chunk of its contents

"Get him while he's down!"

"H-hold up, gimmie a head start would ya?" Naruto hurriedly rushed to his feet and stuffed as many bars into the bag as he could before bolting off in a random direction. "

* * *

 **Hargeon town**

The town was in its usual state on this particular day. People we're flocking to merchant stands and ships were bringing passengers from overseas just like any other day. Here we find two young men, two young women, and a small blue cat conversing amongst themselves in a restaurant. They were in a rather odd position, as it appeared to the locals seated at nearby tables as three of the four humans at the table were bound by rope.

"C'mon Erza I wanna eat," the pink haired boy who had been sitting beside the table on his knees with a rope tied around his neck cried "Hey I uh... I promise to buy you some strawberry cake once we get back home!

"A tempting offer, but no." the redhead now known as Erza responded. "And what about you Gray do you not wish to bargain with me?"

The dark haired young man she addressed was sitting in a similar fashion to his pink haired companion directly next to him with another rope tied around his neck "N-no... Um did you have to be this sadistic with your punishment? Maybe loosen the ropes before you accidently lynch me maybe?"

"Oh believe me "that" is much worse then what I'm about to do to you," she stated as a low chuckle escaped her lips.

"Can someone tell me what THAT is?" the blond haired girl sitting across from Erza asked.

A solemn look spread across Erza's face before she muttered: "poor Lucy does she really deserve this?"

"AAAAAAHHHHH" she squealed "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO ME!"

"Lucy... it's not something you can explain it's something you have to endure," Natsu stated.

"Aye, rest in peace Lucy!" the little blue cat spoke up.

Lucy turned pale "You guys are really freaking me out!"

Erza was about speak up when muffled shouts rang from the outside. All five of them turned to face the source of the noises and were met with a sight featuring an extremely sweaty, blond haired man, lugging a massive bag over his shoulders.

"Who's that guy?" the pink haired boy asked.

"That, Natsu... is a familiar face," Erza stated before sliding out of the booth and brandishing her blade. "Come," she said before yanking the rope, forcing her three victims to follow.

"Hey don't pull so hard!" Natsu cried before he was silenced by a fierce glare courtesy of his red-headed warden.

* * *

"Hey, little girl would you hold this for me? I'll come back for it later!" Naruto said, addressing a frightened little girl who began to tightly clutch her teddy bear.

"I-I don't know I'm scared!"

"Don't be scared of money take it!"

"I want my mommy, where is she? When is she coming back!?"

"YOUR MOMMY'S NOT COMING BACK! NOW JUST TAKE THE DAMN MONEY!" Naruto snapped causing the little girl to flee in tears. "Man... kids these days don't know how to follow simple orders."

The blond was about to walk away when a feminine hand placed itself on his shoulder. Turning to face the source of the hand he was then met a bone crushing fist to his face, he could feel her twisting her fist in order to garner the maximum amount of pain as she slowly attempted to crush his skull.

Satisfied the women let Naruto fall to the ground and left, but not before kicking him in the gut and grabbing his bag of loot. "Stay away from my daughter creep!"

"Hey screw you lady! You can take that money and shove it right up your v-"

"Ahem."

Brought out of his rant by the newcomer who stood over him, he turned his attention to meet the source of the voice only to bet met with a wonderous sight. Deciding to break the silence the blond muttered a low: "nice panties, they compliment your hair," causing the two young men standing behind her to hold each other close out of fear.

An annoyed grunt escaped the red headed woman's mouth as her foot then came into contact with his face.

"Naruto Uzumaki I believe?"

"Yup the one and only!" the muffled voice of Naruto rang from under her boot. "Now could you remove your foot from my face? As much as I'm digging this view, it starts to lose its luster after prolonged exposure."

"Right?" Gray agreed before Erza shot him a soul piercing glare, silencing him completely.

"This guy's got balls." Natsu commented. "I wanna fight him!"

"When don't you want to fight?" Lucy asked.

* * *

 **Later...**

Having tagged along, against his will, Naruto now finds himself traveling to the train station with the four mages.

"This is new." the thief stated, addressing the rope that was now securely fastened around his neck. "Ya know, I knew this one chick who was into this kinda stuff, she was freaking crazy and had this weird snake fetish!"

"Damn... was she hot?" Gray asked.

"Meh... she's an old hag now so I kinda don't want to give my opinion there."

"I hear ya."

Erza and Lucy watched in disgust as the two young men conversed about the struggles of a man's daily life, even Natsu jumped in half way.

"I can't believe these three," Lucy whispered into Erza's ear "They're talking like we aren't even here."

"Don't worry, I'll deal with it." In one swift motion, Erza yanked the rope, causing the three boys to slam their faces into the back of her armor. Unfortunately for Lucy, however, she was also still bound to the rope.

"The hell? She's as solid as a brick!" The blond rubbed his forehead in pain before standing up and banging the back of his hand against her armor. "Yup, pure steel."

"Aye..." Natsu, Gray, and the small blue cat said in unison.

A long awkward silence ensued for a few minutes before Naruto decided to speak up.

"Hey uh... what's your guy's story?"

"We're mages of Fairytail." they all stated at once.

"The guild?" he asked, a single eyebrow raised.

They all nodded before Natsu spoke up "Yup we're the best around!" he stated with pride.

"Now now Natsu, don't get too cocky. The phantom guild rivals us in power remember?" Erza reminded him.

"Psh I could probably take all off them by myself if I wanted to!"

"And what about you?" Erza asked, granting the blond a moment of her gaze. "You have a twenty million dollar bounty here in Fiore. Most dark guilds would jump at the opportunity to crush you."

The blond thought for a moment "Oh you mean those assholes who come busting down my door every time I try to settle down?"

"Perhaps."

"Well, they're a bunch of idiots, this one time this crazy looking owl monster, a pink haired chick, and a rockstar tried to take me out."

"How'd you deal with that?" Gray asked.

Natsu and Lucy too were eager to find out how the story played out as well, even Erza decided to pay half attention.

"Well, I snapped their necks while they were asleep."

The guild mages took a step back in shock, with Lucy managing to mutter a meek: "D-did you really kill them?"

"Nah I'm just yankin' yer chain... well I mean, they might be dead. I dunno, last time I saw them, they were dangling precariously from atop the highest cliffs of Mount Hakobe.

"You must be very skilled to have eluded capture or death for so long." Erza praised "I'm impressed, but that, of course, won't save you here. After all, a bounty is a bounty."

"Hey I'm just curious, but how does one get a twenty million jewel bounty?" Lucy asked.

"Oh, ya know... burglary."

With a look of disbelief, Natsu asked, "Just stealing stuff? Are you like a diamond thief?"

"Nope... I just steal what I want, like this little girls lolly pop for example." Naruto said, snatching a random little girl's sweet treat causing her to burst into tears.

Erza was about to force him to give the lolly pop back when the girl's mother beat him to it. Moments later the blond found himself lying face down in the dirt with a large bruise on his head.

The mother walked away with her child before delivering a kick to his ribs. "I told you to stay away from my daughter you creep!"

"I hate her."

"Well, you deserved it! Stealing from a child... what kind of monster are you?" Lucy asked, disgust evident on her face.

"Hey look, lady, who's to say that little girl didn't steal that lollypop in the first place?"

"Ya know Lucy he's got a point," Natsu said with a thoughtful look on his face.

Having had enough of her prisoner's actions, she yanked the blond to his feet along with the others, forcefully slamming them into her armor. Satisfied, she continued down the path while dragging her human luggage with a stern face. "While you're in my custody there will be no more stealing. Do you understand?"

"Blah blah blah I could escape if I wanted to!"

Having arrived at their destination Erza rolled her eyes. She pulled the group forward and into the train station.

* * *

 **Later...**

"What's wrong with him?" the blond asked as he watched the pink-haired mage uncontrollably vomit inhuman amounts of bile out of the train window. "I don't know about you, but I think vomiting that much into the water counts as pollution."

"Unfortunately, Natsu suffers from a severe case of motion sickness," Erza replied.

"Yeah flame brain over here loses his lunch every time he gets on some sort of transportation." The black haired boy said with a look of sympathy on his face.

"So Naruto may I ask you something?" The redheaded mage began.

"Nah."

"What?"

"No, you can't" Naruto defiantly stated before almost immediately changing his mind when Erza's blade was embedded mere inches away from his manhood "Fine."

"Why do you do what you do?" Seeing Naruto's confused expression she continued "I've heard a lot about you during my time as a mage. You are Naruto Uzumaki, considered a hero in many countries and a scoundrel in a few, Fiore included."

"Uh, I don't know where you heard the "hero" bull crap, but most of the good deed's I do usually involve a payment of some sort or are all committed completely by accident... unfortunately for me, that happens a lot."

"I doubt that, from what I've heard from the old stories, you save damsels in distress, help revive economies and vanquish evil across the globe."

Naruto snorted before replying "The damsels have to be hot, I suck at saving money and evil things usually end's up vanquishing themselves."

Disappointed Erza shook her head, disgust evident on her face "How do you even look at yourself in the mirror?"

"Don't own one."

"You know what I mean," she stated, annoyance present in her tone. "Honestly how do you face your parents the way you are?"

"Don't have those either."

A look of surprise shot across the red-headed mage's face "I see."

"Oh, so we do have something in common..." Naruto began, scratching the bridge of his nose with a grin. "And here I thought we were complete opposites."

"What?"

"You're an orphan just like me. I've been trying to find some way to relate to you since we got on this train since I get along with Gray over there," he said, pointing to the dark haired mage who had fallen asleep, "pinky's ok..." Naruto averted his gaze to Natsu who had been vomiting out the window the entire time, "and my fellow blond over there seems to tolerate me," he finished to which Lucy snorted before shifting her head to face away from Naruto, "You, however..."

"Why do you wish to relate to me?

"I like having friends, plain and simple. It's the only part of the old me that I like to keep intact, but then again don't we all want friends?"

'The old him?' she thought. "What do you mean, the old you?"

Naruto chose to remain silent and simply avert his gaze towards the window.

"Fine, not like it matters anyway," she stated stubbornly though on the inside she truly wished to know more about the mysterious man sitting in front of her. 'How different was he before?'

Another few minutes passed when eventually Lucy caught Naruto staring at her. Though unlike most he didn't immediately avert his gaze when she caught him, he simply started for an extra minute before nodding and muttering something to himself.

"What did you want?" she asked with a faint red hue present on her cheeks. 'Is he checking me out?'

"Psst hey Lucy I think he liiiiiikes you." the tiny blue cat whispered in her ear.

"Nothing just trying to figure out how you aren't cold, it's freezing in here."

Confused Lucy started looking around when she noticed Erza had been trying to warm up by holding herself, Natsu was visibly shaking along with the other passengers and Gray was in complete and utter bliss.

"What are you trying to say?"

How are you supposed to stay warm in such a tiny skirt?"

In response, the blond mage extended her fist burying it into Naruto's cheek. "QUIT LOOKING!"

While Lucy attempted to beat the blond criminal into oblivion, Erza had been deep in thought. 'This is rather odd... why is it so cold?"

Just then she looked down to see what appeared to be the word "Ice" written in glowing letters on the ground. 'T-this is... script magic!'

Suddenly Erza's vision faded and she fell forward unconscious. Behind her seat was a man wielding a metal club with a big grin on his face.

"What the hell?" Gray attempted to lunge at the man when he was met with a similar fate as Erza.

"Natsu get up!" Lucy cried as she struggled to snap the pink haired boy out of his stupor. "Naruto could you..." she stopped when she realized that he was gone, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust in his wake "HE'S GONE!"

A man wielding a six shooter noticed her and violently pressed it against Lucy's back. "Get up and bring your boyfriend with you." He said in a western cowboy accent before turning to the rest of the passengers and firing at the ceiling. "THIS IS A ROBBERY! Just hand over yer loot and no one gets hurt!"

'Damn you Naruto, why couldn't you just do something good for once in your life,' Lucy thought before submitting and dragging her friends to the back of the train car where the rest of the train passengers were held.

"Hold up girly... I'll be taking the redhead," he said before violently shoving her out of the way and grabbing the unconscious mage. "Activate the ice element, magical words or whatever the hell you call em, I want them so cold that they won't be able to move until after this is all over."

"Boss can't we just tie them up?" one of his underlings asked.

"No you dumbass, it's too easy to get out of bindings. Now if they're frozen..."

"Oh... got it."

Lucy could only watch as the man made off with her friend before disappearing behind the door of the train car.

"What do we do?" Happy asked, shivering as the spell had already begun to take effect.

"I don't know..." she replied, already too cold to stand.

The man who had taken Erza stepped into the next train car with the knight slung over his shoulders and met up with the rest of his men with his subordinates trailing closely behind. "Boys look what I nabbed for tonight."

Whistles and sinister chuckles resounded throughout the train car before one of the men spoke up in a similar accent to his leader. "Why wait? Let's test her out now!"

The men all cried in agreement before the leader gave in. "have at her." he said before tossing her on the ground causing the men to gather around her like moths to a flame.

A flash of gold caught one man's eye causing him to turn around. "Who the hell is that?" one of the train robbers said, pointing to the blond man who was digging through their loot bag.

"Uh... hi?" the blond said, trying his best to sound civil.

"Well, well, well lookie here boys, we got ourselves a hero!" the man announced causing Naruto to snort. "Come to save your girlfriend?" the leader said with a smug look on his face which elicited laughs from his men.

"What? No thanks cowboy, I've had my fair share of violent chicks in the past and I don't need another one," he said, still rummaging through the bag. "You do what you want."

"What kinda man are you?" the leader asked.

"The kind that really likes money," he said before finding what he was looking for, the bag with a yellow jewel sign printed on it from before. "Aha! I knew they got on the train!"

Naruto glanced over at men who were shooting him death glares before asking, "Uh so... you guys into redheads too or what?"

"Kill him."

All ten men charged at him at once, guns unholstered and weapons held high. The blond stood there motionless until one man came close enough to hit him with his iron club. The sound of metal crushing a piece of wood resounded throughout the car causing the men to look on in confusion as there was now a pile of splinters where Naruto once stood.

"What the hell!" they cried in unison before turning all at once to see Naruto lift the redhead into his back.

"I guess I'll take you along to..." he muttered.

"SHOOT HIM!" the leader cried.

Naruto barely managed to make it through the train car doors and close them before a bullet could hit him or Erza.

"Geez, I'm gonna get killed trying to save you." Naruto observed his surroundings for a brief moment before a bullet came flying through the doors' window. Acting quick, he leapt atop the train car and stopped to take a breath. His brief sense of safety, however, was soon shattered when several bullets came flying through the roof.

"He's up top!" Naruto heard the leader cry as several men emerged from the edges of the train. Naruto looked from left to right as he searched for a potential getaway.

One brave individual attempted to take a swing at Naruto with his metal club. Sidestepping his blow Naruto delivered a swift kick to the man's back launching him forward and knocking him as well as another robber, who had barely just got up to the roof, off the edge, and into the water. Seeing as it would have been futile to engage the blond head on, the men flocked to the far end of the train car and brandished their firearms.

"Men shoot him!"

Naruto made a beeline for the leader, occasionally spinning around to use Erza's armor to block the bullets, seemingly paying no mind as to whether or not the bullets would hit her. The collective *click* of empty chambers caused Naruto to smirk as he quickened his pace and sped through the group with enough speed to disperse the very air around him. The men stopped to look at one another before an extremely powerful gust of wind hit them dead on, sending a few flying across the train and some into the ocean.

"DAMN YOU!" the boss cried before his screams were muffled by a splash.

Meanwhile, had collapsed, sprawled out along the train car while using Erza's body as a bed, a cold, hard, and stiff bed. Out of shape is what he was.

After lifting Erza onto his back once more and sliding back into the train car to grab his bag of loot, he took notice of a small, gray object amongst the passenger belongings. 'A tourist camera eh?' he thought slyly as he glanced over at the woman on his back.

* * *

 **Later...**

Erza had begun to stir before ultimately awakening to find herself face to face with Lucy. "You're ok!" Lucy cried comical tears before wrapping her in a tight hug.

"Ngh... what happened?" she asked, rubbing a small bump that she felt had formed on her head.

Lucy then proceeded to explain the recent events up until the point where Naruto ended up coming back and dispelling the artificial blizzard, saving everyone on the train.

"He did that?"

"Yeah, I was surprised too!"

"Where is he now?"

Lucy handed her a small note, "He said to give this to you when you woke up."

The knight grabbed the note and read out loud "Yo, you owe me a bag of money! I dropped it the water when I was trying to carry your heavy ass back to your friends! Oh and uh... bye?"

"What kind of goodbye note is this?" Natsu asked, "I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO FIGHT..." he paused when he felt the familiar wave of nausea wash over him, "I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"Calm down you probably would have lost anyway!"

"What did you say popsicle?"

"You heard me, matchstick!"

Erza ignored the duo, opting to study the note further. It was thicker than normal note paper and with enough observation, she found that the note was actually a small envelope. Within moments of removing and observing the item within, her face turned red enough to match her hair color. When she was at the point of maximum embarrassment, she went stiff and dropped the item.

Confused, Lucy grabbed the item and studied it before squealing at what was discovered to be a photo of Erza on Naruto's back. Her head had been snuggled firmly into his shoulder and a smile could be seen on her face. What made her laugh, however, was his expression. He was grinning, winking and giving a thumbs-up to the camera.

'P.S. You're kinda warm. Just thought I'd point that out!'

Erza attempted to stutter something out, but Happy beat her to it "You liiiiiiike him!" Happy flew by before being launched through the roof of the train car and into orbit courtesy of the red-heads foot.

"Scary." her guildmates muttered.

"HEY OUR STUFF IS ALL GONE!" one passenger cried.

"What?" Erza began "I thought the robbers were dealt wi-" she paused. a look of disappointment mixed with annoyance made it's way onto her face as she realized exactly who the culprit was "NARUTO!"


	2. Naruto's Probation

**Magnolia town three days later...**

"This place looks like shit," Naruto said as he stood at the entrance to the ruins of the Fairytail guild building. "This is where they're from?"

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" a familiar male voice asked from behind him. "And what's that thing on your ankle?"

Naruto turned to face the source of the voice and smiled, "Hey what's up Gray!" he greeted before extending his fist. When Gray repeated the action and bumped fists with his, he continued, "Uh... is your friend Natsu here?"

Gray gave a nod and gestured to his comrade with a wave. "HEY FLAMBRAIN GET OVER HERE!"

"What the hell do you want ice cube!" Natsu called from the bar where he was sitting along with Lucy. "Huh? Naruto!"

"The one and only!" Naruto replied with a hint of pride in his voice.

Hopping off the barstool, he started walking towards the duo with Lucy in tow, "What are you doing here?" he asked as Naruto and Gray approached him. "If Erza sees's you..."

"What's all the commotion about." Erza suddenly appeared causing the four of them to freeze mid-step.

Confused, Erza turned her attention to Gray and spotted Naruto waving at her with his signature grin. Her eye twitched before she equipped a massive mallet and slung it over her shoulder. She slowly approached the blond thief while she radiated an aura that made everyone but Naruto sweat.

His grin having vanished, Naruto began to walk backward as his impending doom drew closer and closer, "Hey now I'm here to help!"

"Any last words?" Naruto opened his mouth to say something. "Too late!" Erza interjected before she gripped the handle with her free hand and swung the mallet downwards.

Naruto barely managed to dive out of the way before her mallet created a crater on the ground where he once stood "Hey gimme a chance to explain!"

"Perhaps this," her mallet faded away and was replaced by a metal bat, "will get the job done."

"Hold it Erza!" an elderly voice called from within the guild construction site.

Her evil look turned to a scowl as she turned to face the source of the voice. "But master, this man is..."

"I know who he is Erza... he's on probation."

Shocked the four mages turned to face Naruto who was grinning like a madman. "Probation!" they cried in unison.

* * *

 **Naruto's Probation**

* * *

All of Fairytail watched as Fiore's most wanted, performed community service in the form of restoring their guild. hundreds of Naruto doppelgangers flooded the guild each playing a role ranging from sweeping to removing the giant pillars of metal that stuck out of the walls.

"What kind of magic is that?" the white haired barmaid asked Erza "I've never seen it before."

"I've no clue, but whatever it is, that magic suppressor on his ankle doesn't seem to work against it." Erza crossed her arms and took a seat on a barstool in front of the bar. "Strawberry cake, please."

"Coming right up!"

At a table located directly in front of the bar, a large white-haired man and Natsu were chatting amongst a group of random guild members.

"Hey, Elfman you think we should help him out?" Natsu asked.

"No! A real man works alone and doesn't need help!" the large man replied, "besides from the looks of things he' got this handled and we'll have our guild fully constructed in no time!"

"Still, though..." he turned his attention to the group of Naruto's that had just pulled out a giant iron pillar from their walls, "IM SO BORED!"

"I hear ya, but the master want's us to stay and help do repairs, so no requests can be taken until the guild has been rebuilt."

"Damn that sucks!" Naruto said suddenly appearing next to Elfman who let out a shamefully feminine scream.

"D-don't sneak up on me! That is very unmanly!"

"Oh and that scream was supposed to be manly?" Naruto said.

"So how'd you get caught?" Gray said, taking a seat next to Naruto and Natsu. "Aren't you like, the greatest thief Fiore's ever seen? How'd you get caught?"

Mirajane stepped forward and began serving them drinks. "No I think a better question would be, how did you get probation with a twenty million jewel bounty?"

"Uh... you see it happened the day after I left you guys backat the train."

* * *

 **Flashback two days ago-**

Naruto stood at the residence of one of Fiore's council members, Ultear Milkovich, dressed in a white dress shirt, black slacks, and dress shoes. To top it all off, he carried a stack of books and wore reading glasses to give off the appearance of a scholar. Her mansion was massive and bore an elegant victorian style, in fact, it was actually nice enough for Naruto to try and compare its price to his bounty.

Naruto gulped and knocked on one of her massive double doors. 'Ok keep it together Naruto... you're a scholar from the elemental nations who's studying human interaction and psychological patterns in thought processing... whatever that means.'

The door opened to reveal a slender young woman. What caught Naruto's eye, however, was her oddly colored hair, at one angle it looked to be purple and at another, it looked completely black.

She stared at him while he was mesmerized by her hair for a few seconds before smirking and leaning against her door frame. "how'd you get through the security gate?"

"I climbed over." Naruto bluntly stated. "Ms. Ulear, my names Alex Flameheart, I am a scholar from the elemental nations who specializes in the study of interactions among the human race."

"Don't you mean, sociology?" Ultear got in close and began to examine his face. "Do I know you from somewhere?" she said in such a tone that to most would have made it blatantly obvious that she knew exactly who he was, but Naruto wasn't like most. She also managed to spit on him slightly in the process.

"Forgive me your grace, but where I come from, we abide by the complex philosophy of 'thou shalt say it and not spray it'," Naruto wiped the spit from his face and fixed her with the most sincere smile he could muster. "Maybe you've met my brother Naruto?"

"Not personally, but I would like to meet him meet him one day." she licked her lips and began to trace circles on Naruto's chest.

'Crap... I didn't expect her to try and seduce me! How is this working? She hasn't even said anything seductive!'

'Just play along with it I need more time!' a voice similar to his called from within his mind. "And what did you think would happen, YOU FORGOT TO DYE YOUR HAIR!'

'S-sorry boss!'

Without warning, Ultear pulled him inside and shut the door. "So Alex Flameheart, might I ask where your brother might be?"

The Naruto clone was sweating bullets."U-uhh I uh..."

Licking her lips once more, she leaned in close to his ear. "Won't you tell me? I REALLY want to meet him!"

Meanwhile, inside the doppelgangers mind, he was panicking. 'Oh man oh man she's in my bubble, I can't betray the boss, I can't betray the boss!' He could feel her breath on his neck as she pressed her body into his chest. 'she knows our weakness!'

'We aren't THAT prone to seduction!' the real Naruto's voice echoed in the mind of his clone.

'Maybe you aren't, but we clones are!'

Just then, an alarm went off causing Ultear to scowl.

Annoyed, she turned and walked over to a pair of doors before turning and smiling. "My dinner's done... don't go anywhere, I'll be right back."

When she disappeared behind the doors Naruto let out a breath that he didn't even know he had been holding. She was attractive and that was his worst enemy as it was his major weakness. The clone was barely holding it together, any more of this and his rapidly beating heart would dispell him.

'Hang in there man, I'll switch out with you, just find the vault!'

Just then the clone noticed a hand wave to him from behind a door. Letting out a sigh of relief, he quickly ran over to where the hand was and walked through the door. Moments later the real Naruto emerged wearing the same exact disguise.

'Alright, I just have to stall... but how? Counter seduction?' he thought before he was brought out of his mind by the young counselor's voice.

"I'm back," Ultear called as she exited the adjacent room.

"Good, now let's get to business."

"Oh my, take me out to dinner first."

Allowing her comment to slide he replied, "Not a problem, but I'd prefer it if you just sat down and took this survey." Naruto slid out a piece of paper from one of his books.

"And let your clone rob me blind? Not a chance."

Naruto raised an eyebrow before reverting back to his calm self. "Who's to say I haven't already robbed you?"

"Well if that's the case, then you're better than the reports say."

And just like that Naruto was out of things to say. Ultear noticed this and capitalized on his mistake by leaning in close once more only this time she brushed her lips against his. "You let your guard down..."

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. 'Time for plan B.' Before Ultear could push her lips against his, smoke erupted from the blond's sleeve giving him enough time to bolt out the front door.

Ultear stood amidst the cloud of smoke, unfazed with a look of disappointment on her face. "Shame... I really wouldn't have minded one night with Fiore's most wanted." She snapped her fingers and almost instantaneously she was surrounded by a small army of Rune Knights. "After him."

* * *

 **Present...**

"...and on my way out I tried to climb the fence, but as it turns out that thing shocks you when the defense systems are on and well... here I am!"

By the time Naruto finished his story, just about everyone in the guild had gathered around to hear his tale. Most of the men were looking at him in jealousy and annoyance, Master Makarov included, even Natsu knew what he ultimately missed out on.

"You lucky bastard, you should've just stayed and kept her company! That's what a real man would've done!" Elfman shouted.

Erza raised an eyebrow "Wait so how did you get probation with a twenty million jewel bounty?"

"Well... I've got a friend in the council who pulled some strings and here I am!"

"Right... and how influential is your friend?"

"Pretty influential, as a matter of fact, a majority of those council members I had blackmail for and I assume you know Siegrain?"

Erza's eyes widened "Is he the influential friend that helped bail you out?"

"Yeah... and from the looks of things you know him too, have you had any bad run in's with him?"

The redhead didn't respond, instead, she turned around and walked away without a word.

When everyone had dispersed, Makarov cleared his throat and extended an arm to the blond. "Well then, glad to have an extra pair of hands, I'm Makarov Dreyar the guild master and as you were likely informed by your parole officer, Natsu is your supervisor.

"Uh... yeah about that."

Naruto stood up and held up his hands to reveal a shattered ankle bracelet. "Glad you guys were so interested in my story haha!"

Erza immediately seized the opportunity to strike him down with her mallet once more and held it high above her head. "Big mistake!" She swung, applying tremendous force while making sure to aim it directly above Naruto.

Right before the mallet came into contact with Naruto's skull, he reached forward and flicked Erza's breastplate. Her eye's widened when she looked down to see that her armor was no longer equipped and neither was her weapon.

"Gotta run, see ya around Red!" and with that Naruto disappeared along with his clones in a puff of smoke.

The rest of the guild stared wide-eyed at the event that had just perspired as one thought floated around the minds of everyone in the guild. 'Did he just beat Erza in one move?'

Erza wasn't going to just let this go. Now thoroughly embarrassed ,she stormed out of the guild, not even bothering to open the door as she rammed her body through the pair of wooden doors with enough force to make them fly off their hinges.

'Scary...' the guild thought.

* * *

 **Later on that day... Nighttime-Natsu's residence**

Natsu wasn't in the brightest of moods, in fact, he was enraged. He was laying in his hammock, Happy curled up next to him, pondering on the events that had taken place as soon as he returned home. Shortly after Naruto had departed he had arrived at his guild to find it completely wrecked and the worst part, his master wouldn't let him or anyone else do anything about it.

The dragonslayer glared at the ceiling. 'This is stupid we should be repaying those bastards at Phantom Lord for what they did!' he thought.

Shortly after Naruto made his second get away, Makarov had finally gotten around to sending a letter addressing Phantom Lord of their crimes against Fairytail. From what Natsu managed to read through the thin envelope, Makarov was willing to forgive them IF they paid for the damages.

As hard as he tried he just couldn't seem to understand his masters logic, of course, he was glad no one was hurt, but that building held a lot of memories for him and to see it in its current state made him angry.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard rummaging coming from the next room. Natsu walked over to his bedroom door and peeked under the door. 'It must be those Phantom Bastards trying to get the drop on me!'

Making a fist, he then coated it in flames, threw open the door and charged for the figure that looked to be searching his cabinets "YOU'RE MINE!"

The figure turned around with a lazy expression before sidestepping and sticking his foot in Natsu's path tripping him in the process.

"You know... for a mage that spends his life training his mind you aren't all that bright." Natsu heard the familiar voice say before he rolled over and observed the figure who had just turned the lights on.

"NARUTO!"

"Yup the one and only!"

The dragonslayer stood up and coated his fists in flames once more "HAHA so you came to fight me right?"

Naruto gave Natsu a confused look. "Fight you? Why the hell would I want to fight you? I don't fight, I steal!"

A look of disappointment dawned on the dragonslayers face. "Then why are you here?"

"I needed cash and I was in the neighborhood when I saw this neat looking house in the middle of the woods."

"So you decided to rob me?"

"Hey look who's catching on!" Naruto said before he walked into the kitchen. "You got anything to eat?"

"Hold up!" Natsu sprinted into the kitchen only to find it empty "What the..."

"Hmm...ahh there's where you keep your wallet!" he heard Naruto's voice echo from his bedroom "Huh... Natsu you genius I would have never thought to store my porn mags in my bedroom wall! Looks like you're WAY more clever then I give you credit for!"

By the time Natsu had gotten into the room it was too late, the blond thief had already pocketed his change and shoved his "special magazines" back into his secret wall compartment.

"I was just borrowing them from the snowman!"

"Uh huh and when were you gonna give em back?"

He froze before he sighed in defeat and hopped onto his hammock. "Ahh screw it, I'm too tired to deal with you now."

"Good, I'll be on my way then." There was silence once Naruto exited the room. Just when Natsu thought he was finally gone he heard his voice echo from the other room. "IM LEAVING WITH ALL OF YOUR MONEY," The mage ignored it and allowed his eyelids to begin shutting when Naruto's voice echoed from the room once more "WHY WON'T YOU CHASE ME DAMNIT?"

"WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE!"

Waltzing back into the room, the blond rolled his eyes and tossed Natsu his wallet. "Here... I'm dissatisfied with this."

"Why? I just made your life easier!"

"Yeah and that's boring, do you know how unsatisfying it is to steal from someone who doesn't care if their money's stolen?"

"Jeez, you're sick! What kind of person just steals to get a kick out of it?"

Naruto gave the mage an annoyed glare. "I do! Now why aren't you giving chase!"

"Because I'm tired!"

"Well quit it."

There was silence for a moment "So... what happened to your guys' guild building anyway, my parole officer wouldn't tell me anything other than that it was vandalized."

Natsu grits his teeth. "The Phantom Lord guild did it!"

"Wait if you guy's know who did it then why aren't you guys repaying the favor?"

"Master won't let us, he says he doesn't want to cause any trouble."

A thoughtful look appeared on Naruto's face for a brief moment, he closed his eyes in thought and "hmm'd" softly. "Well that sounds like YOUR problem!" he said before re-snatching Natsu's wallet, opening a nearby window and climbing through. "Catch ya around!"

"WAIT NARUTO GIVE ME MY WALLET BACK!"

Natsu could only helplessly stare as Naruto disappeared into the woods with both his wallet and as he would soon discover, his magazines. With a heavy sigh, Natsu turned and rested on his Hammock before any more surprises came his way.

* * *

 **Done!**


	3. A Dysfunctional Partnership

**A Dysfunctional Partnership**

* * *

Often Naruto would find himself immersed in illegal activities ranging from things like petty theft, which was his favorite pastime, to massive high paying heists. Never had he found himself in a plot to take over the world until three years ago. Currently, Naruto finds himself sitting in front of Siegrain in his office directly next to Ultear, the woman who had him arrested.

Naruto never trusted Siegrain, but, for the most part, he didn't trust anyone and he especially didn't trust Ultear, not after she got him arrested. One thing that most people didn't know about him was that he was would always be bound by his word and he would keep it no matter how bad it sounded when it came out of his mouth. The blond owed Siegrain a favor and Naruto Uzumaki always keeps his word... at least when it came to promises.

The blond began to eyeball the blue haired counselor sitting on the opposite side of the desk. "So what did you want Siegrain," he began, making sure to scoot away from the young woman sitting next to him, "and why is she here?"

"I don't bite you know..." Ultear said before scooting closer to her pray, "not unless you want me to."

Chills shot through Naruto's spine before he scooted away a couple of inches once more. "Oh... well can you not?"

Ultear rolled her eyes and folded her arms beneath her chest. "So what's this meeting about?"

The blue haired councilman raised an eyebrow. "Well for starters Ultear you got my errand boy arrested."

'Errand boy?'

Ultear scowled and leaned back in her chair. "Oh come on how was I supposed to know that Naruto here was helping us, you know you've been leaving me in the dark lately!"

"Exactly what do you mean by errand boy?"

Siegrain either ignored or didn't hear him as he continued to chat away with his fellow council member "Ultear I haven't been completely honest with you because you've been acting strange lately."

"Strange?" she said, mock hurt evident on her face. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Man... errand boy... that's pretty cold you know?"

"I've gone through a lot of trouble to cover up your schemes and this is the thanks I get?"

Siegrain closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "Listen, I told you the moment I recruited you for this that we had to operate under heavy secrecy and that I need to know what you're doing most of the time if this is going to work!"

Ultear rolled her eyes and brushed a few strands of hair from her face. "Oh here we go, it's the whole "You could compromise the entire plan if you're not careful." lecture again."

"Hey Siegrain I did a lot of shit for you, can't I at least get a promotion to... I don't know mercenary?" Naruto was about to continue, but stopped when their bickering intensified, before he knew it Siegrains office was ransacked, the desk split in half, bookshelf toppled and papers were scattered across the ground.

Both wizard saints took a seat and stubbornly crossed their arms, each making it a point to look away from one another.

Naruto threw his head back, allowed his arms to go limp and groaned. "Why don't you two have your lovers quarrel somewhere else?"

"Lovers quarrel?" Ultear began. "No... but my offer for you is still on the table."

"Well, my answer is still no!"

"I can change that."

Siegrain cleared his throat "Well now that we've settled that it's time for me to tell you why you're here."

Naruto leaned forward and Ultear crossed her legs.

"The preparations are nearly complete, we just need the sacrifice."

"NOPE!" Naruto suddenly shouted before standing up and walking towards the door. "I don't want anything to do with your voodoo magic!"

The female counselor grinned. "You didn't fill him in on all of the details either, did you?"

Siegrain ignored her. "Naruto you won't be performing the sacrifice-"

"I could care less, I'm not kidnapping someone so you can just kill them," Naruto opened the door. "Sorry, but I don't participate in rituals where I can catch some nasty thousand year curse, I've already got a thousand years worth of bad karma to deal with!"

The blue haired mage chuckled. "Fine, then I guess you'll never see HER again now will you?"

Naruto froze in the doorway and remained silent while Siegrain continued to speak.

"Remember, once Zeref's revived we'll have complete control over him, with Zeref's aid we can bring her back."

Ultear placed her elbow on the remains of the desk and rested her head on her palm, making it obvious that she was interested.

"Remember when we first met? You were a drunken mess and you were babbling about how you couldn't protect your... what was that name you referred to her as again?" A thoughtful look appeared on the young man's face. "Precious little princess?"

"Ok fine!"

'Precious little princess?' Ultear thought with an amused smile.

Naruto stormed over to the chair and took a seat. "Let me make this clear, you are NOT allowed to call her that!" he took a deep, heavy breath. "What do I have to do?"

* * *

 **One day later...**

The Fairytail building was in ruins from the aftermath of the war with Phantom Lord, a rival guild who attacked them in order to capture Lucy Heartfillia for her father. The war ended with the disbanding of Phantom Lord, the imprisonment of Jose the leader of Phantom Lord and the destruction of the Fairytail building along with heavy injuries on both sides.

Erza Scarlet, while glad none of her comrades perished during the war, was furious "we shouldn't even have to do this dammit." she muttered to herself while slinging two large and heavy support beams over her shoulders.

Natsu and Gray, who happened to be walking by, were suddenly knocked unconscious by one of the support beams when Erza spun on her heel.

"Um... Erza," Lucy who was taking a break at the bar pointed to the unconscious pair of mages "I think you should really watch where you're swinging those things hehe..."

"Oops," she said before walking over to their prone forms. "Natsu, Gray, stand up we have work to do." Annoyed that she didn't receive a response, she set down the two wooden beams, went ahead and lifted them by their collars and dragged them over to the bar. "Here Lucy I trust you can take care of them?"

"I guess..."

Erza nodded "Good."

Erza was returning to work when a voice that she would rather not have heard at this particular time wrang across the ruins of the guild. "Whoa this place looks even shittier now, what the heck happened here?"

Everyone in the guild turned to face the entrance and were met with the grinning face of Naruto.

Suddenly feeling unwelcome, he wiped off a drop of sweat from his forehead and said, "Uh... hey?"

The red headed mage's immediate reaction was to brandish a blade and charge at the newcomer.

"Didn't you learn your lesson the last time?" Naruto dodged Erza's first strike and followed up with a flick to the side of her chest causing her armor and weapon to once again fade away.

Erza fell to her knees and glared at the blond "How..."

"Top secret, hush, hush, you know?"

Before he knew it he was surrounded by mages, their magic flaring to life "Stay away from Erza!" one mage in the crowd cried.

"What's your guy's problem she attacked me!"

The entirety of the guild was about to strike when they were halted by the clearing of one's throat. One by one the Fairytail mages powered down their magic and took a step back.

Makarov, who had just emerged from the basement, walked over to the young man. "Now, now don't be so hasty," he said before addressing Naruto with a handshake. "Can I help you?"

"That's... pretty civil."

"I'm trying to set an example for the rest of my guild," Makarov chuckled. "You see they may be strong, but when it comes to social interaction a good majority of them are a mess."

Naruto nodded. "Sounds good... uh, so would you mind if I joined your guild?"

There was silence, the guild stared at the thief dumbfounded, Makarov raised an eyebrow and Naruto sneezed.

"WHAT!" the guild cried.

Naruto snorted "Ya know where I come from you say 'bless you' when someone sneezes."

Immediately the guild master was bombarded with pleas. "Master you can't!" one guild member cried. "Y-you're not considering it are you?" cried another.

When Makarov finally found room to speak he shouted, "ENOUGH," then directed his attention to Naruto. "May I ask why you would like to join us? You see the state of our guild don't you? We have no money for you to take."

The blond rolled his eyes. "Darn, well I guess I'd better go now," Naruto said in the most sarcastic tone he could muster. "Look I'll be straight with you, I'm board, I want adventure and from the looks of things you guys could use all the help you could get."

Master Makarov listened intently and nodded. The boy in front of him was an enigma, he couldn't tell if the boy was lying or not even with his many years of experience Naruto remained a mystery that he would likely never solve.

Another awkward silence rolled around before Makarov smiled and nodded. "Sure just don't go stealing things while under the Fairytail name." the guild master walked over to the basement stairs. "Have fun!" he said before gleefully trotting down the stairs.

"HAVE FUN?" the guild mimicked before turning to face Naruto who began sweating bullets under their collective gazes.

"So, is there like a form I have to fill out or what?"

* * *

 **Done!**


	4. Scourge of the wastes, Desert Leviathan

**Update 12/6/15: Major changes made to the last half of the chapter (After the line break...).**

 **Update 9/21/16: Corrected a ton of errors, added and replaced some dialogue.**

* * *

It has been two and half weeks since Naruto has joined Fairytail, not officially due to his reputation, but after a long talk with master Makarov they had come the conclusion that it would be best if Naruto went with someone else whenever he wanted to take a request so that the other person could meet with the client since his face was so easily recognizable. For the most part, despite his reputation, Naruto fit in well at Fairytail and had made a few friends as a result, his only problem was Erza.

Currently, Naruto was sitting at the guild bar seemingly showing symptoms of withdrawal. His body was slumped over the bar and his eyes were twitching over his untouched bowl of ramen.

"Hey, that'll get cold if you don't eat it," Fairytail's barmaid stated before skillfully balancing a metallic tray on one hand and carrying it over to a table situated directly in front of the bar. "Here you go enjoy."

Mirajane winked at the two men she handed drinks to causing them to faint. She giggled and walked back behind the bar, placed her elbows on the bar and rested her head on her open palms.

"That's a deadly power you've got there," Naruto stated before digging into his ramen.

"Oh it's just years of practice, it's all I'm really good for nowadays."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Now don't say that, what about all that power you got stored up in your body? It's almost as much as Erz- that witch."

The barmaid giggled. "Don't be so mean to Erza, she's just looking out for the guild and your massive bounty was bound to get her all protective."

"Well, I wouldn't mind so much if she would let me go about doing requests the way I want to do them! I haven't stolen a thing in FOUR DAYS!" Naruto began to vigorously twitch his eye's once more.

Mirajane gave him an amused smile before reaching under the bar and pulling out an empty glass. "I never thought someone could go into withdrawal for a reason like that. I know Natsu can't go too long without devouring some sort of flame before he gets similar symptoms like yours, but you're not consuming anything."

"Well, when you've been doing it for three years and succeeding ninety percent of the time it gets addicting."

The young woman smiled and began to clean out the glass mug with a rag. "You know, I saw that picture you took."

Naruto grinned in response. "How'd Red like it?"

Mirajane giggled at the nickname "Well... she was..."

"Annoyed, enraged, out for my blood?"

"Embarrassed."

There was a brief silence before Naruto spoke up, "Oh... well that's unexpected."

The barmaid rolled her eyes and gave Naruto a slightly annoyed look. "Erza's a girl too you know and it's not every day you get to snuggle into the shoulder of an attractive guy."

Naruto snorted. "Attractive? Lady, I think you need to get your eye's checked."

"Well... I do have trouble reading."

"See."

The barmaid frowned "Someone doesn't have a whole lot of confidence in himself does he?"

"It's not that..." Naruto paused to slurp down some of his ramen before continuing. "Its's just in comparison to you I feel rather hideous."

"Are you hitting on me?"

"Uh... no? What makes you say that?" Naruto said with a confused look.

Mirajane sighed and went back to cleaning the glass mug. "Nevermind..." she mumbled with a disappointed look.

Naruto raised an eyebrow once more before shrugging and gulping down the broth. "AHH, that was great! I haven't had ramen in ages!"

"I'm glad you decided to have a decent meal," he heard the voice of his self-proclaimed warden say before he heard a click and looked down to that one end of a handcuff had been attached to his wrist. "Let's go I've taken a request and I'm not letting you out of my sight."

A look of concern spread across Mirajane's face. "A request? Please tell me you aren't trying to get him killed on one of your S-class raids."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she stated with a straight face. "I just thought he could use a little experience that's all!"

Naruto was about to respond when he heard another click. He looked down again to see that Erza had handcuffed her right wrist with the same pair of handcuffs effectively binding them together. Before he could protest he was quickly dragged out of the guild and onto the streets of Magnolia, kicking and screaming.

"Well... that's the last we're seeing of Naruto," Gray somberly stated before placing a stack of jewel into a small hat. "Here ya go Cana, I got twenty thousand jewel saying that Erza is going to kill Naruto before the monster does."

Cana smirked. "Anyone else?" she cried causing the entirety of the guild to gather around and begin tossing money into the hat.

After everyone had placed their bets Happy decided to fly by. "Hey Cana, what are the bets?"

Cana grinned at the blue cat and held a white piece of paper to her face. "Well, from the looks of things, a huge majority of the guild is betting that Erza is gonna kill Naruto first, the rest say that the monsters gonna do it."

"Oh... ok, here's ten thousand jewel saying that they're both gonna come back."

"HAPPY THAT'S THE LAST OF MY MONEY!" Natsu cried.

"Gotta go, see ya around Cana, aye!"

Cana watched Natsu chase around the tiny blue cat and threw on a sly smirk before pulling out a small journal and sliding out a pencil from its spiral bindings and jotting down Happy's bet along with the amount of jewel he bet at the very bottom of a long list of bets.

"Good luck blondie."

* * *

 **The Desert Leviathan**

* * *

The cuffs had begun to dig into his skin and Naruto could already see red rings forming beneath them. Glares were exchanged with the redhead in front of him but ultimately they remained silent for a majority of the trip until the train took a dark route through a mountain pass.

"Where are we going?"

"A desert just outside of Fiore. We are going to slay a sand creature known as the Desert Leviathan."

Naruto threw his head back and groaned, "BORING!"

Erza raised an eyebrow. "Boring?"

"Yeah boring!"

"I'm sure Natsu would beg to differ."

"Then why didn't you take him?"

"Because I care about his well-being," she glared at him, "you, however..."

"Look you don't have to say it, I know you love me!"

Erza's glare intensified. "Listen, I brought you along because I need to keep an eye on you and my being away from the guild for so long would give you the perfect opportunity to rob us blind or commit unspeakable deeds!"

"Unspeakable deads?" Naruto pointed to the pair of handcuffs that bound him to her. "Don't you talk to me about unspeakable deeds!"

"What are trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say that I would rather be glued to a starving bear's dinner plate then be stuck here cuffed with you!"

"In what world do bears use dinner plates?"

"THATS BESIDE THE POINT!"

They bickered like that for the next twenty minutes causing the other passengers in the train car to stare at them with mixtures of amusement and annoyance. Just before their words transition into blows, the train came to a sudden halt.

Erza looked toward the window and quietly announced, "We're here," before standing up and falling in line with the other passengers who were leaving the train. Naruto, who was still cuffed to her, was inevitably dragged through the crowd despite his efforts to pull away.

The train station was large and was definitely big enough to accommodate for the amount of passengers getting off of the train and locals looking to board it. One thing the duo immediately noticed was the large fountain at the center of the station that bore a small plaque which read, "Welcome locals of Fiore to Oasis!"

"Yo, you said we were leaving Fiore right?"

"I did, this is the border between Fiore and Bosco, otherwise known as Oasis"

"Well, the name fits," Naruto said as he admired the fountain or more specifically ogled the ruby red gem that was delicately placed on the top layer that spewed water. "Man that's so vulnerable," he said as inhuman amounts of drool washed onto the floor.

"Indeed, now my client's home is located near the train station and he should be..." the mage scanned the crowd until she eventually spotted an elderly man wielding a staff twice his size standing near the exit. "I believe that's him."

"Huh?"

"Eye's off of the gem."

The blond pouted and stubbornly crossed his arms. Fine!"

Erza rolled her eyes and gave him a look. "Listen, this is an S-class job."

"And?"

"There is no room for mistakes because one single slip up could cost hundreds of lives!"

"Yeah and none of those lives matter to me," Naruto directed his attention back to the gem, "all I care about is that huge payday ticket on top of that fountain."

Remembering that she was still handcuffed to him, she yanked her cuffed arm hard enough to send Naruto's face into her right shoulder.

"Sleep." she whispered as Naruto slumped as far down as the cuffs would allow.

The old man had witnessed this and let out a hardy laugh before walking over to the two and asking, "You must be the mages I've hired correct?"

"We are," Erza said, "now, unfortunately, I cannot stay and chat with you. You see my guild was attacked and is now in ruins so..."

"I get it, you need to get back to help with the repairs." The man's eyes shifted to the unconscious blond that hung from her right arm. "Hey, isn't that..."

"It's... complicated."

"I see." The old man started poking Naruto's head with the bottom end of his staff in an attempt to garner a reaction, or at least confirm that he wasn't dead. "Well keep him away from the gem... if he's still alive I mean."

"I will."

The elderly man gestured for her to follow him and started making his way through the crowd with Erza and Naruto, involuntarily, following close behind.

The city of Oasis was about as large as Magnolia and true to its name it was paradise in the midst of a desert. Dozens of small lakes littered the city and the buildings bore a recognizable victorian style.

"This place is very congested," Erza said, glancing from one sight to another. "All of these buildings are merging into one another and there are so many people."

"Yeah, but it's home," the old man said as he casually strolled down the street. Suddenly, he stopped and pointed to a small, run-down house placed firmly between two buildings that blended with the rest of the city. "That house over there is my home."

"Looks like shit," Naruto said, fully awake.

Erza lazily glanced over at him. "When did you wake up?"

"Like two minutes ag-" he was cut off when Erza's head came into contact with his, knocking him unconscious once more.

"You two... are quite a couple."

"What are you implying?"

"Stranger things have happened I suppose..."

In response, Erza held up the job flyer with an irritated look.

"Ahh yes come inside!"

"Sir I told you that I cannot-"

"I know, but you won't be able to defeat the beast without a certain something..."

The mage nodded and followed after the man, making sure to put great care into her steps as his home looked as if it would fall apart if someone so much as sneezed on it.

"Wait here," he said before disappearing inside his house only to come out seconds later with a glass bottle full of green liquid, sealed tightly with a cork. "Heh, sorry, I forgot that I brought it in my pocket."

Erza pinched the bridge of her nose before delicately handling the bottle. "Well... it's only a slight inconvenience."

"Indeed, now I'm expecting good results and remember to bring back the head."

Nodding, she spun on her heel and started walking in the direction she figured would get them to the outskirts of the city faster.

* * *

 **Later...**

Time had gotten away from the duo as they had been treading through the dunes for hours on end only to turn up with no results. The job flyer stated that the great beast made it's home in a pit that was said to be easy to spot, but they had been walking for a grand total of eight hours and it wasn't likely they would find it at night.

"Too... hot..."

Naruto, who had woken up about an hour into the walking, wiped some sweat from his brow "... AHHH FUCK THIS PLACE!"

"Language."

"NO this is utter horseshit! We've been wandering the desert for EIGHT FREAKIN HOURS and still no sign of desert Leviathan anywhere! I'm hot, my clothes are super damp, and I think I'm getting a heat rash!"

"And what would you have me do? Turn on my imaginary air conditioner, manifest water out of thin air, or perhaps buy you an ice cream cone?"

"None of the above, I want you to take me back to the city so I can tell that old man to fuck off and deal with his overgrown garden snake problem himself!"

Erza raised an eyebrow. "Your language is awfully colorful today."

"Nah... you think?" Naruto said. "Now WOULD YOU STOP MOVING AND LET ME STAND!"

It hadn't occurred to her until now that she had been dragging him the entire time so with a guilty look she complied with his demands.

"That's better."

"Now it's your turn, carry me."

"What are you insane?" Naruto asked. "There's no way I'm carrying you!"

Erza rolled her eyes before plopping herself on the ground bringing Naruto down with her.

"Well, you'd better figure something out. Either we camp here in the scorching hot desert until I can recover or you continue that way..." she trailed off. "Wait, which way was north?"

"Are you serious?"

"Well, unfortunately, it seems I've lost my way."

"So I guess we're camping here then?"

"Yes, but before that, I want to ask you something."

"Go for it."

"What's that in your pocket?" she asked pointing at the shiny red object sticking out of his pocket.

Naruto sat up and pulled out the shiny red object, revealing it to be the red gem from the fountain. "Oh this?" he asked innocently. "Don't worry I left an I.O.U."

"You just stole a national treasure!"

"Do I look like I care?" Naruto began to wave the stone in the air. "I've stolen from people ages one to one hundred so frankly it doesn't bother me anymore!"

"How did you even get it?" Erza sat up and snatched the stone from his hands. "You were cuffed to me the entire time!"

"Hey, I stole it fair and square and besides, you owe me for saving your ass on that train!"

He had a point that she couldn't deny. If it wasn't for Naruto then unspeakable things may have happened to her and for that she was grateful, but the blonds personality and his way of going on about things made it hard for her to repay that act of humanity.

"Look don't hang that over my head, I'll repay you for that one day, but right now you need to return this!"

"Of all people to be stuck to... JUST UNLOCK THE HANDCUFFS!"

"No," she replied before rolling onto her back and directing her gaze to the stars. "I uh..."

"No... you didn't."

"I did."

"YOU LOST THE KEYS!"

"Look, my requip inventory space is vast. How am I supposed to find it in that mess?"

"Ever heard of pockets?"

"I'm wearing a-"

"I know..."

A long awkward silence ensued before a breeze, colder than ice, washed over them. Following the breeze was a sudden weather shift from blazing hot to a wintery chill that threatened to freeze the very blood in their veins.

"What's with this desert!" Naruto said, his teeth chattering as he attempted to warm himself.

"I d-don't know," Erza said, mimicking Naruto. "We're going to d-die if we don't find some way to w-warm ourselves!"

"A-any Ideas?"

"I'm to t-tired to use my f-flame empress armor."

"Great..."

"We have to sh-share body heat..."

"No thanks, that armor of your's is still blazing hot-" An icy cold breeze washed over them, effectively silencing Naruto momentarily. "On second thought, maybe that's not such a b-bad idea."

The two embraced and Naruto could feel a searing sensation through his jacket, but it was certainly better than being bombarded with freezing temperatures.

"D-don't try anything while we're like this," she said through chattering teeth. "This position means nothing!"

"I wouldn't d-dream of it!"

* * *

 **Done!**


	5. Hunter of the Sands

Erza awoke to find herself snuggled firmly into Naruto's side. Immediately she backed away as far as the handcuffs would allow and was about to pulverize the blond when last night's events occurred to her. "Right... it was my idea," she said, restraining any urges she felt that involved punishment of the cruel and unusual form.

Naruto too awoke to find his arm, painfully outstretched and Erza sitting a good four feet away from him with a thoughtful look on her face. He yawned and wiped the sleep away from his eye's before he sat up and gave Erza a blank stare.

"My opinion still stands... you're very warm."

Erza didn't take too kindly to his comment and punished him by snatching his ear and pulling him close. "I trust you didn't try anything while I was asleep did you?"

"Nah, I groped you, smelt your hair and licked you in your sleep. You taste like a mixture of broccoli and cherries by the way."

"I hope for your sake that you're lying."

"You aren't good with sarcasm are you?"

In one motion, Erza stood up and forcefully pulled Naruto to his feet. "Come, we'll never find the beast at this rate, let's backtrack back to Oasis and try to figure something out."

"Yeah good idea.. oh, but hold on, YOU LOST YOUR SENSE OF DIRECTION LAST NIGHT!"

She was taken aback by his words and blushed at the mere fact that they were true. One of her greatest weaknesses was her sense of direction and her stubbornness to admit she was wrong.

"N-no, North is that way!" Erza pointed in a random general direction before pointing in the opposite of that direction. "So if we go back this way then we'll end up at Oasis in another eight hours!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa another EIGHT hours?"

"Yes, or would you rather we keep going that way and die of dehydration?"

"I'd rather do neither and would have liked to be back at the guild eating ramen and chatting with Mira!"

The mention of her friends name caught her attention. "You're... friends... with Mira?" she asked in a low voice.

"Well... I think we're friends. She always seems to have time to chat with me and we've been spending a lot of time together recently."

It was in that moment, that a foreign and unwelcome emotion attacked her insides. She couldn't quite describe it, but she knew that she would rather have lived without experiencing it. She was so busy figuring out what it was that she almost didn't notice Naruto move directly in front of her face.

"Yo, don't go getting sick on me, I don't want to have to drag a damn corpse through the dunes for eight hours!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Your face is super red, did you catch a cold last night or some... som- ACHOO!'

"Great you caught a co.. co- ACHOO!"

The two blinked and exchanged glances before they sighed in unison. Their situation was looking rather bleak; they were stuck in the middle of the desert without food or water and they both had colds. To top it all off, the cuffs were beginning to dig into Naruto's skin.

* * *

 **Hunter of the Sands!**

* * *

 **12 hours later...**

Naruto was sure of it, he was going to die in this desert alongside his red-haired companion. The intense heat of the desert was going to melt him if he didn't die from dehydration first or if his cold didn't end up destroying his body... or perhaps if the desert leviathan didn't get to them first.

"Erza... I think we're gonna die!" He went silent when he turned to face Erza only to find her wearing only her undergarments. "Hmm... they're much bigger than I'd anticipated."

A look of disgust crossed her face as she lashed out and grabbed hold of his collar. "You're sick."

"Well, would it kill you to wear some clothes?"

Erza rolled her eyes and pointed to the sun. "I believe it would."

"I stand corrected."

"Look, I don't like this anymore than you do-"

"Oh really?" Naruto interjected, "You know, this view is actually the only saving grace in this situation!"

"Would you quit complaining," she began, "and stop staring at my chest! Direct your eyes north and keep them there before you regret it!"

"Pft, like you'd know anything about north!"

Her cold stare actually managed to cool him down for the briefest of moments before the heat wave hit.

"Man... hey is that ice cream offer still on the table?"

"If we live... maybe."

"So... it's a date, whoopie."

Erza froze midstep and slowly turned to face the blond. Her face as red as her hair, she managed to stutter out a reply, "A-a what?"

"A date, you know like a planned meeting?"

"Oh..."

"Are you some kind of idiot?"

And just like that, any strange feelings that had manifested were immediately squashed by rage and annoyance, unfortunately for her, she wouldn't be able to channel it into the punishment she felt that the blond rightfully deserved.

"You're lucky that-" she trailed off as she suddenly lost the strength to finish. Her body slumped and eventually her legs gave out. "I-I don't..."

She would have fallen face first into the sand had it not been for Naruto who quickly stepped in front of her and caught her on his back.

"Hey don't become dead weight yet... I can see the city!"

"I'm fine," Erza said, "I don't need your help!"

"Whatever Red, I'm not holden out any better then you are and if you die here then ALL of Fairytail's gonna want me dead!"

'Red?' she thought.

"Hey, you're a requip mage right?" Naruto waited until she nodded before he continued, "Well don't you have an armor for this situation? Maybe a bottle of water?"

"If I did don't you think I would've pulled it out by now?"

"Sorry for asking."

"It's understandable... with my heavens wheel armor I could have flown us back to Oasis, but we've gone too long without food or water and frankly I'm a little too weak at the moment to use such a magic draining armor."

"Ahh... well, at least, the city's in sight," Naruto said, eyeballing the mass in the distance. "I didn't think it would take a whole day to make it here, but we did it!"

Naruto put his arms under her legs and started piggybacking her towards the city at a steady pace. The long silence that ensued was broken by Erza.

"I'm sorry."

"Could you not talk because then I'll be obligated to respond and it hurts to speak."

"Then just listen," she ordered. "I'm... sorry I brought you along, if you want the mostly obvious truth then I brought you along because I didn't trust you to be around my guild."

"Well uh thanks for being honest?" he said between breaths. "Look, I get it, I wouldn't trust me either and I probably would've robbed you guys in your incredibly vulnerable state, but..."

"But?"

"Put some clothes on first..."

The ensuing awkward silence was broken only by the sound of Erza's requip magic being activated.

"Hey..." Naruto said.

"Hmm?"

"You're really heavy!" he suddenly cried. "What the hell do you eat?"

Erza could feel whatever portion of her mind that generates rational thought and reason slowly dying. For the next five minutes, she had to restrain the urge to wrap her arms around the blond and strangle him to death.

"Look we're pretty close to the city."

The mage looked up and confirmed Naruto's statement when she saw a black mass within running distance however it looked nothing like the city, but she chalked up her inability to see it to the intense dehydration she was experiencing.

"Good, now please pick up the pace."

"I would if I could, but I'm a little thirsty too ya know?" Naruto rolled his eyes and started walking faster. 'What the hell's wrong with the city?' he thought. 'Why's it all dark?'

As the duo approached the dark mass, Naruto suddenly came to a halt, a concerned look prominent on his face.

"What's wrong?"

Naruto remained silent, his eyes still fixed on the dark mass in the distance. He took a step back and asked, "Do cities move?"

Erza shook her head, albeit very slowly due to her weakened state. "Proceed with caution..."

Naruto was to focused on the mass to make his usual snide remark and complied. He continued to walk until he approached a large hill that obstructed his view of the thing in the distance. "Alright... cross your fingers." Upon reaching the top, they were shocked to discover that the dark object had vanished.

'Where'd it go?' the two thought in unison.

Suddenly tremors began to rattle the ground as sand gushed from the earth, causing the sand to from the sky. The duo turned around just in time to watch a giant snake-like creature emerge from the desert with a mighty roar.

"Oh, c'mon! Red you got any ideas!" Naruto said as he made direct eye contact with the creatures green, slitted orbs.

"It's the desert Leviathan, RUN!"

Naruto complied and summoned whatever strength he had left in his legs and made a mad dash in the opposite direction.

"You idiot! How did you get the city mixed up with the monster?"

"I was thirsty and the hallucinations were starting to kick in!"

The two didn't make it very far as the great beasts snake-like body quickly surrounded them, blocking all possible routes of escape. Naruto surveyed the surrounding area only to grunt in annoyance as the great beast's body had completely surrounded them.

"What now S-class mage?" the blond said.

"We face our deaths with dignity!"

"Screw that noise I'm not dying here!"

Erza and Naruto braced for impact as the great beast opened its jaws wide and clamped down upon them. Having consumed more sand, the desert Leviathan raised it's head to the sky and swallowed with great effort before resting its head on its long body to digest his meal.

* * *

 **Meanwhile...**

Naruto and Erza were practically buried in the sand as they slid down the creatures throat and into his stomach. In order to stay together, they held each other close until they came to a sudden halt.

Erza was the first to pull herself out of the sand "Naruto!"

A head of blond hair popped out of the sand followed by a sleeved hand that addressed her with a wave. "Yeah I'm here!"

"Good... now help me figure a way out of this place."

Not in the mood to argue, Naruto nodded and started pulling his body out of the sand. Just as he pulled his legs out of the sand he suddenly felt the beast shake as its body began to curve.

"It's moving," Erza stated.

"Probably back to his lair I guess."

"Any ideas."

"I've got one..."

"Hmm, I do as well..."

* * *

 **Later...**

The scrouge of the dunes, the dessert Leviathan was having a great day. Its hunt was very successful, it had made it safely back to its home and still no one could slay him. He was undefeated and that only fueled his pride.

It was resting in its hole, coiled up when suddenly he felt his body slightly bulk up before it went back to its normal size. Slightly shaken by the occurrence the beast scanned its body before attempting to return to it's resting position. Barely five seconds later he heard his female prey speak.

"Hmm, I wonder how this green liquid tastes..."

"Pour it out and see what happens first!" his blond prey cried.

A moment later it started feeling sick and all at once it began to vomit all over its home while thrashing about.

"OH GOD!" the beast cried. "What the-"

Naruto and Erza emerged from the mixture of sand and bile with disgusted looks on their faces.

"WE'RE FREE!" Naruto cried. "Who woulda thought that that glass full of green shit would come in handy!"

"We aren't free yet!" Erza said as she made eye contact with the creature.

"My human pray? How dare you!"

Startled by the beasts ability to speak perfect English the two turned to each other and began to whisper.

"Hey, I didn't know this thing could talk!"

"Perhaps it is a trick?"

"I don't know it seems pretty legit to me."

"AHEM!" the Leviathan bellowed. "FEAR ME, HUMANS!"

"Oh right... so we kinda have to go." Naruto said.

"Yes we'll be late for a meeting if we don't-"

The beast glared. "Be silent foolish humans! Pray don't speak, they scream!" the beast interjected.

Naruto gave Erza a look to which she responded with a shrug.

Having had enough of the current situation, the desert snake shot forward with lightning speed only to ram itself face first into a rocky surface.

Having used his substitution Jutsu to escape along with Erza in the nick of time, Naruto gestured for Erza to follow him out through a large hole with a light shining at the very end.

"We're so close! C'mon Red, move your 'out of shape' ass faster!"

"Be quiet!" Erza snapped. " I can only move so fast without nourishment!"

They hadn't heard a sound from the beast in a while so the two turned around in unison just in time to watch the beast recover and begin slithering up the tunnel at high speeds.

"It's too fast!"

"LESS TALKING, MORE RUNNING!"

"That won't do us any good!"

A thoughtful look spread across Naruto's face before he came to an abrupt halt.

"What are you doing?"

"On my count, we jump!"

"Are you insane? Also, I'm not taking orders from you!"

"Does this look like the time to be arguing right now?"

Erza hesitantly complied. It stung her pride to do so, but she was relying on Naruto to get them out of this situation since she was too weakened to do anything at the time.

In one swift motion, and with the combination of their remaining strength, they leapt atop the beast just in time to dodge it's bite and ride it to the tunnel exit. The Leviathan was going at such great speeds that when it launched itself forward out of the hole, it shot itself about a half a mile into the sky.

"Alright, S-class mage finish the job!"

Erza nodded and brandished a massive blade about twice her size from her requip inventory. With a mighty cry, she plunged the blade into the beast's body, using what remained of her magic to bring the beast back down to earth with a massive amount of force. The impact kicked up a mighty dust storm that spread all the way to Oasis, which just so happened to be rather close by.

Unbeknownst to them, however, the storm was so intense that it started kicking up rocks and other objects of the sort. People were flung about and windows were smashed by stray objects.

Meanwhile, back at Fairytail, a certain elderly man cringed as he brandished his wallet and held it close.

When the duo emerged from the depression made in the sand, panting heavily, they gave each other a brief glance before turning around just in time to watch the creature slither back into the sand.

"Damnit!" Naruto cried. "Well... that was totally pointless."

"We couldn't even kill it..." she froze when the realization that she just failed the job dawned on her. "I... failed."

"Meh, look on the bright side!"

"There's a bright side?"

"Yup, I'm still alive!"

"Oh what a treat..." she trailed off before she slipped into unconsciousness.

Naruto quickly caught her and positioned her on his back "C'mon man, what kinda S-class mage are you!?" he said to her unconscious form. "Honestly what would you do without me?"

Oddly enough her tranquil breathing put him at ease for the rest of the trip back to Oasis which, oddly enough, just so happened to be located right next to the beasts lair as Naruto discovered. He even didn't bother to check with the old man who had given the request since he was sure that he would be pissed that it was because of them that Oasis had suffered as it did. Never again would he entrust Erza with directions, he promised himself. They had gone through hell and even through all of the pain they endured and the ultimate, disappointing, climax of their adventure he couldn't help but walk back to the train station with a slight skip in his step for he had found something, even more, valuable than money or even friendship.

"I STILL HAVE THE GEM BITCHES!" Naruto cried as the train departed on route to Fiore...

* * *

 **DONE!**


	6. Slave for a Day

"I still have the gem bitches!" Naruto cried as the train departed for Fiore much to the shock of the other passengers on board. Satisfied, he leaned back in the luxurious leather seats and started playing with the gem when a small child walked up to the booth and fixed a glare at him.

"That's not yours!" the little girl said.

"Oh great... it's you." Naruto said, disdain evident in his voice. "To what do I owe the displeasure of looking at your ugly face?"

"Mature..." the little girl trailed off.

Naruto snorted and waved her off. "Get outta here kid and go back to that bitch you call a moth-" he was cut off when a tiny fist buried itself into his cheek "OW!" he cried.

"that's for calling my mommy a b-word!"

The blond sat there massaging his cheek before glaring at her "you're adopted."

"Oh yeah well I'll bet you're still an orphan!"

Her comment caught him off guard. "What kind of little girl are you?"

The girl was about to respond when the sight of the redhead behind him opening her eyes caught her eye. A sinister grin spread across the little girl's face before she put on a sad face and allowed her eyes to erupt in tears.

"What's wrong little one?" Erza asked having awoken from her deep sleep.

"H-he-he was b-being m-mean to me!" the little girl said through her tears and sniffling, "H-he said I was a-adopted!"

"He did?" Erza said before directing a glare at the blond who was staring at the girl, wide-eyed. "Go back to your mother. I'll deal with him."

As if someone flipped a switch, the little girl's mood did a complete one-eighty. "Ok thank you Ms. mage! Oh and your hair is really pretty!"

"Thank you."

Erza watched the little girl skip away with a smile on her face before she turned to the blond with a menacing frown of disapproval and cracked her knuckles.

"Well played evil little girl... well played."

* * *

 **Later...**

Naruto sat on the opposite side of the booth with a black eye and a fractured rib cage. Currently, he was locked in a fierce staring match with his companion. "Give the gem back she-devil."

Erza cracked her neck in a few swift motions. "Make me."

The blonds frown slowly turned into a grin that stretched from ear to ear as he held up a plastic bottle full of ice cold water. "Hold on just a moment while I drink this nice..." he paused when he saw her eyes widen. "Refreshing," Naruto slowly unscrewed the cap, "bottle of water."

Erza couldn't handle it anymore. The pain that stemmed from dehydration got the better of her and she tossed him the gem. In turn, Naruto handed her the bottle of water which she preceded to drain in seconds.

"I hate you." she said while breathing heavily.

"Belive me Red, you're the last person I would like to be here with... now TAKE OFF THE HANDCUFFS!"

At the time, she was tempted to. Had he used the water as a bargain to get her to take off the handcuffs she may have broken, but in her current, hydrated state she wouldn't let him out of her sight no matter how much he begged.

"This is the most efficient way to keep you under tabs. If I let you go then you'll leave, fence the gem and buy a one-way ticket out of Fiore."

'Damn did she read my mind?' he thought before the objective of his mission came back to him. 'Oh... right.'

"I won't honest!"

"Do I have your word?"

"Yes!"

"No."

Naruto felt like laying her out right then and there, but what stopped him wasn't anything chivalrous, rather he was afraid she would hit back harder.

"You owe me remember?"

"I know I do and I'll do anything you want that isn't illegal or anything that involves letting you go."

"Do I have your word?"

"You have my word as a mage of Fairytail."

Naruto began to chuckle before he fixed a serious look on her, making sure to make direct eye contact. "Well then I guess you wouldn't have a problem... oh I don't know... being my slave- err- servant for the day?"

Erza immediately attempted to protest but stopped when she realised that she had just played right into his hands. "You..." she trailed off.

"Me!" he chirped.

* * *

 **Slave for a day!**

* * *

The train arrived in Magnolia and out stepped Naruto and Erza. "Ok slave, for starters I want you to get me a drink when we get back to the guild." He said before yanking on the handcuffs just to garner a reaction. His eyes widened in horror when she balled her hands into a fist and primed it for a punch. "ALSONOHITTINGME!"

"What?"

"No hitting me."

Erza took a deep breath. "Talk slower next time."

Naruto yanked on the handcuffs again. "C'mon slave quit stalling!"

"I swear when midnight comes I'll strangle you in your sleep." she muttered before following behind the blond.

The two were walking through streets when Naruto spotted a rather expensive looking restaurant. Naruto chuckled and pointed to the building with his thumb. "So how much money you got on you?"

"No"

Naruto slowly nodded. "Yes."

"I hate you."

"I know you do and you're probably gonna despise me by the end of the day!"

Naruto and Erza walked into the restaurant and were immediately bombarded with stares. Most of the men in the restaurant looked at the blond with a mixture of jealousy and shock, but mostly jealousy and the women, for the most part, were shocked as well.

"Don't look now Red, but I think you got some admirers."

"It is attention I would rather not have now hurry and find us a seat."

"Oh no, no we aren't sitting at a table."

"Then where?"

Just then a waiter walked up to the two and asked, "Ms. Scarlet and unwanted company, how may I serve you?"

"Yeah can we get a seat over there?"

The waiter stared at the blond in confusion. "But there are no tables over there!"

"Exactly."

"You want to sit on the ground?"

Erza rolled her eyes and grabbed Naruto's collar. "No!"

"Concerned about your public image are you?"

"Not too much, but I refuse to just let you humiliate me!"

"Fine," Naruto smirked, "Hey waiter I've changed my mind I want a table, but could you make sure not to give us any plates, bowls or silverware?"

Erza grit her teeth and brandished her blade. "Watch it, I'm already spending thousands of jewel on this meal."

"Ooh, scary!"

"Can we just sit at a table and eat like normal people?"

"What's the magic word?"

"Are you a child?" Naruto shrugged and took a seat at one of the booths. Erza sat across from him, their cuffed arms resting on the table. "Thank you."

"Remember waiter, no eating utensils." Naruto jokingly stated before Erza held her sword up to his neck. "Um... ok just serve us like normal people."

The waiter smiled. "Excellent now do you have anything in mind?"

"Breadsticks are enough for me."

Naruto picked up the menu and quickly flipped through the pages. "You got any ramen?"

"R-ramen! Never!"

"Ok, I'll take a beef ramen with extra-"

"NO we do not serve trash, we serve fo-" the waiter was silenced when he felt cold steel press against his neck.

"Ramen... now," Naruto whispered into the waiter's ear.

"R-right away sir!"

Erza sighed and crossed her legs. "You have no self-restraint."

"Did you hear what he said?"

"I did, but that doesn't mean-"

"Here you are sir!" the waiter screamed as he suddenly reappeared with a bowl of steaming hot ramen and a basket of breadsticks in hand. "Enjoy Ms. Scarlet and please don't kill me Mr. Uzumaki!" the waiter said as he handed them their forks before retreating back into the kitchen.

"You were saying?"

Erza sighed and started eating her breadsticks. "It's still rude."

The blond chuckled. "And this isn't?" he pointed to the handcuffs before happily digging into his ramen. They both sat in silence, Erza was enjoying her breadsticks and Naruto was staring at the fork in confusion.

Erza looked up from her meal, mid-bite and asked, "What's wrong?"

"What is this thing?" he replied, turning the fork in different directions as if the answer would come to him if he observed it hard enough. "Its like... a weapon of some kind. Torture device maybe?"

"Its a fork, an eating utensil."

"Where are the chopsticks?"

"We don't use those here in Fiore."

"...Oh, well can you show me how to use this thing?"

"What? How have you never used a fork before?"

"I... well I kinda live off of instant ramen..."

Erza looked at the blond in astonishment. "How are you still alive?"

The blond ignored her and continued to play with his fork. "Argh this is so frustrating! Slave, teach me how to use a fork!"

Erza massaged her forehead in an attempt to calm her headache before sliding over to the other side of the booth. The next ten minutes consisted of Erza teaching Naruto proper posture with a fork and spoon.

"Huh... this is pretty easy thanks, slave!" Naruto said before devouring his ramen.

"Don't mention it."

* * *

 **Later...**

Erza's wallet had taken a hit. She was never greedy with her money, but it did make her feel good when her wallet weighed ten pounds in jewel notes and having it weigh two pounds less physically hurt her. The two were walking down the streets of Magnolia and were window shopping for the most part in silence.

"I-I don't think I can take it anymore..."

"Well prepare yourself Red because overpriced restaurants are just the beginning!"

"What more do you want that you cannot steal?"

Naruto grinned. "I mean I am more than willing to lift the slave contract if you just take off the handcuffs."

The offer was tempting and she nearly broke, but then her mind flooded with thoughts of Naruto pickpocketing anyone who was unfortunate enough to cross his path, kicking puppies and frightening small children. She also had no idea where the key was so she wouldn't be able to unlock the cuffs even if she wanted to.

"Do your worst."

"Heh heh I will."

* * *

 **Later...**

After a series incidents involving impulse buying using Erza's bank account, Naruto eventually took the time to look up into the overcast sky that was only visible because of the small rays of moonlight that shone through the clouds. Naruto grunted in annoyance. 'Damn It's getting late. I was sure cleaning out her bank account would break her! Why won't she just uncuff me already?'

Erza looked miserable as she stared into the empty abyss that was her wallet. 'I can't believe he burned one million jewels in less than four hours!'

Naruto let out a heavy sigh. "Look Red you can take all this stuff back for a refund..."

Startled by his sudden announcement she took a step back and narrowed her eyes. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Just curious, but do I look like I wear expensive perfume? PERFUME!"

She did find some of his item choices a tad odd, but she never questioned it. When she thought long and hard about it, she did eventually come to realise that Naruto was indeed a male and didn't need an expensive dress, or dozens of female hair products.

"Jeez, your girl stuff is freaking expensive! I mean who woulda thought that you could burn one million jewel on just female products?"

"Then why did you have me-"

"I was trying to get you to remove the handcuffs, but clearly that isn't working."

Erza fixed a look on the blond before crossing her arms. "So I can take all of this stuff back?"

"All of it... and tell you what, you can stop being my slave."

"Why?"

"I'm out of ideas."

There was a long silence between the two. Unsure of what to say Erza looked into the sky. 'Time to turn in for the night,' she paused and her face went red when the realization dawned on her. In their current state, Naruto would have to sleep with her.

"You still sick?" Naruto asked.

"No. I Uh-" she trailed off.

"Well spit it out."

'I can't bring him to Fairy Hills,' she thought before locking eyes with her tormentor. "Looks like we have to sleep near each other... again."

"Ok? I don't really see the problem here."

"I do," she snapped before gesturing to a nearby alleyway. "Over there, we will rest in that ally."

"What? No!"

The requip mage glared at their bindings. "Trust me I would rather be sleeping in my bed, but-"

"Say no more." With a deep heavy breath, he continued. "Let's just go."

After some fierce bickering on whether one spot was comfier than the other Naruto eventually conceded and sat on the side Erza had picked out. He wasn't gonna lie, the spot between the two garbage cans was rather cozy compared to the blank and open space he wanted, but that place had shade provided by the edges of the roof. Seeing her companion settle into her spot, she turned to say something when she was cut off by the booming noise of thunder. Rain began to drench the duo as a guilty look crossed Erza's face.

"Told ya my spot was better."

"Don't..."

* * *

 **Done!**


	7. One Week

**One Week**

* * *

Naruto awoke to the soft breathing of his red-haired companion and, much to his annoyance, her drool seeping through his jacket and onto his chest. With a sigh, he carelessly pushed her off of his chest causing Erza's head to hit the ground hard enough to wake her.

Having been shaken by the impact, she sat up and groggily said, "What happened to the cushion?" to herself before she realized who the 'cushion' was. "And you once again attempt to violate my personal bubble, why?"

Naruto gave her a blank stare. "You're delusional," he stated before attempting to walk out of the alleyway only to stop when the cuffs began to cut into his wrist. They wordlessly made eye contact and remained silent until Naruto spoke, "We're cutting these off today."

The mage nodded. "Agreed."

* * *

 **Elsewhere...**

At the Fairytail guild, Natsu was in the middle of a drinking contest with the Fairytails greatest drinker Cana Alberona. The females in the guild were cheering for the latter and the males for the former.

"C'mon Natsu!" the large white haired mage cried. "A true man can double... no TRIPPLE the amount of drinks she has consumed!"

Natsu had to force the alcohol down his throat. "I think I'm gonna be sick!" he cried before taking a deep breath. "But at least, I have a good lead." the dragonslayer turned to face his opponent only stand up and call her a cheater when he saw six beer barrels completely drained of their contents, whereas he had only managed to consume three mugs.

"It's a skill pinky," she smirked and reached for his half full mug of beer. "Remember that the next time you bet the rest of your savings in a drinking match against Fiore's best, now fork up the dough," she said before draining the mug of its contents.

At the bar Lucy sat on one of the stools, watching the contest intently before she eyed her own mug of beer with an uneasy expression. "Um... can I just have a milkshake instead?"

The barmaid looked up from the glass she had been cleaning and smiled. "Sure thing Lucy."

Lucy smiled back. "Thanks." When her drink arrived she went to grab it, eagerly anticipating the sweet taste of the creamy vanilla she loved so much. She had almost wrapped her hand around the glass when suddenly a sleeved, cuffed, arm gripped by a metallic hand slammed down onto the space directly next to her with enough force to knock over her milkshake. "M-my milkshake..." Lucy said with a shaky voice as she began to shed tears that reflected true despair at the very sight of her ruined vanilla delight.

"Mira get the hacksaw we're cutting his arm off!" Erza said, tightening her grip on Naruto's wrist.

"WHAT!" Naruto cried. "We didn't agree to this!"

"It is the only way!"

"Or you know JUST CUT THE DAMN CHAIN!"

Mirajane shrugged, reached under the bar and pulled out the tool. "Here ya go, but I would consider cutting the chain first."

Erza gave her rival a blank stare. "Out of the question," she replied before positioning the blade just above his wrist. "Hold still."

"Oh try not to bleed on the counter, I just cleaned it!" Mirajane chirped.

"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!" Naruto chanted before slamming his hand into her face in a desperate attempt to stop her. "Please, just cut the chain!"

"We do this my way or not at all!"

"Are you seriously just not gonna cut the chain because it was my idea?"

There was a brief pause before Erza sighed and handed Mirajane the saw. "Ok... maybe there are better ways to do this."

Naruto grabbed the saw and started sawing. "Yeah like my way!" he said before Erza snatched the tool and crushed the blade rendering it completely useless. The blond looked at the remains of the hacksaw then back at Erza, he repeated this action twice before saying, "Hey why don't you just do that," he began as he pointed to the scraps of metal on the ground, "To this," he held up the chain.

Erza ignored him and directed her attention to the pink haired mage that was vomiting in one of the empty beer barrels. "Natsu come here!" she said. Fearing the consequences of ignoring a direct order from the S-class mage he rushed over to the duo and stood in front of Erza, back straight and saluting "Melt the chain."

Fearing the consequences of ignoring a direct order from the S-class mage he rushed over to the duo and stood in front of Erza, back straight and saluting. "Melt the chain."

"Melt the chain."

"No don't melt the chain!"

Natsu shrugged and gripped the chain. "Heh is that all?" he said before attempting to ignite his fists in flames only to be stopped when Naruto's fist knocked him flat on his back.

"THAT BURNS YOU IDIOT!"

Natsu sat up. "That's what fire does you, you... b-bigger idiot!"

Erza sat next to Lucy while the two argued and started massaging her forehead with her uncuffed hand. "Lucy I can talk to you right?"

"Yeah sure."

"What do you think I should do?" Erza held up a finger. "Should I just cut off his arm," she held up another finger, "or should I crush the bones in his wrist and hand into to dust so I can slide the cuff off?"

Lucy began to sweat. "Umm well," she gulped, "have you considered just finding the key?"

The armored mage began to chuckle. "Had that been an easy task, I would've had these cuffs off already."

Lucy was starting to fear what would happen if she couldn't provide a solid answer, her sweating began to intensify until she had an idea. "Oh why don't you just find someone that can make a new key for you?"

"That's not a bad idea."

"Uh, thanks?"

Erza stood up and yanked her arm causing Naruto to fall on his back just before he could throw a punch at Natsu. "Come Naruto we have to find a smith."

"Next time we meet pinky you're losing more than your money!" Naruto cried as he was dragged across the guild, towards the door.

"Stop making a fuss and get up, we'll have these cuffs of in no ti-" Erza froze. Her expression turned from one of neutrality into a look of shock and then eventually a mixture of anger and discomfort. "Why are you here?" she said, loud enough for the guild to hear. A man stepped into the guild and planted himself barely a couple inches away from Erza's face with a smile that only served to fuel her anger.

"I can't visit an old friend?"

Naruto's eyes widened when he heard the voice. 'Shit I missed the deadline!' he thought before nervously turning to face the man. "Hey there blueberry, what's up?"

Siegrain glared at the blond. "What's up?" he mimicked. "You know what's up, I'm here to see how your community service is going."

Makarov had just exited his office when he heard this. 'So he didn't join us because he wanted to,' he thought with a sigh of disappointment. 'He must have gotten arrested again.'

"Oh well uh can you do that tomorrow, I'm kinda stuck here," Naruto said with a grin before he heard two fingers snap, followed by the sound of metal breaking in two. The blond looked at his cuffed wrist and found that the chain had been severed. "Um thanks?"

Siegrain directed his stare back towards Erza, his glare turning into a smile once more. "Erza would you mind helping me-" he paused when she started to walk away. "Hmm I suppose I could do It myself."

"Now now counselor that won't be necessary," the guild master said as he approached the duo. "Mira would you mind?"

"No problem," the barmaid responded with a smile. "I just so happen to have an extra pair of handcuffs on me."

Gray decided to make his presence known and stepped out from the crowd. "Why do you have those?"

Mirajane giggled and started spinning the handcuffs on her finger. "Well each month the photographers of sorcerer magazine get more and more," she paused and brought a finger to her chin, "uh what's the word... fetishy? But hey they let me keep the handcuffs."

When the majority of the males in the guild heard the news they immediately scrambled for the nearest copy of Sorcerer magazine, which just so happened to be in Lucy's possession. Lucy flipped to the centerfold of the magazine and marveled at the sight in both admiration and jealousy. 'Wow... I hope I can be as beautiful and strong as her one day.' she thought while paying no mind to the to those standing behind her who were also gawking at the picture.

The barmaid stared at the crowd. "Oh dear," Mirajane said before turning around and attaching one end of the handcuffs to Naruto's right arm and another to her left.

Naruto looked at his wrist which now had two cuffs attached to it. "Uh what are you doing?"

"Yes... what are you doing?" Siegrain said.

"Well, I can't have you escaping now can I? Erza wouldn't like that." The councilor sighed and attempted to say something when he was cut off. "Don't worry, I have the key right here."

Unsure of what to say, Naruto exchanged glances with Siegrain who shrugged and started walking out of the guild. "Your presence is not required Ms. Strauss, but if you wish you can personally escort him to the train station, I'll take it from there."

Mirajane smiled and happily leaned on Narutos shoulder. "No problem!" she called to the wizard saint who either didn't hear her or ignored her. "Come on, let's take a detour."

Before Naruto could protest she clung to his arm and started leading him in the opposite direction of the train station. "Uh where are we going?"

"Just to the park."

"Why are we going there?"

"Why are you so eager to end our date and go to prison?"

'Date huh?' he thought before turning his gaze to the young woman, eying her up and down. 'Sweet.'

"Don't worry, I use the term "date" lightly, I just want to talk to you about something."

'Damn...'

* * *

 **Later...**

Siegrain was pacing back and forth across the train station, every so often checking the entrance to see if the duo had arrived. After the five minute mark he had grown impatient, by the thirty-minute mark he had become annoyed. He had been at the train station for almost three hours now and was about to go and search for them when he heard Naruto voice call from the entrance.

"Sorry that took so long, she REALLY likes to talk." Naruto approached the counselor, arms cuffed firmly behind his back "Now what's this all about?"

"We'll talk on the train, I've rented out an entire car for one trip so we can talk there," Siegrain said before he walked onto the train. Naruto followed shortly after contemplating whether or not he should run and leave Fiore.

The train car Siegrain had rented just so happened to be reserved for first class passengers. Unlike the other train cars each booth came equipped with a table and small breath mints on the seats. Tossing the mint over his shoulder Siegrain took a seat. "I always wondered why the workers here put the mints on the seats," he sighed and directed his gaze to Naruto. "It's unsanitary."

Naruto, who had already popped the mint into his mouth, bit down on the mint loud enough for his employer to hear a crack. "Yeah that's just gross," he stated before swallowing the mint.

Siegrain narrowed his eyes "So I trust you know why I brought you here?"

"Yeah, yeah I missed the deadline, but to be fair, I was stuck in the desert with her for a day."

"That is no excuse, I gave you a week and then when you still hadn't shown I was generous enough to give you two more weeks." The counselor cracked his knuckles "My patience is wearing thin."

Naruto held his hands up and wiggled his fingers. "Ooh spooky," he mocked before rolling his eyes. "Look I get it, but I just haven't been able to find the right opportunity to capture her and frankly she kinda hates me."

"Three weeks and that's your excuse?"

Naruto attempted to say something only to be silenced by Siegrains glare. A minute of silence passed before he managed to say, "You know you and Red have a lot in common?"

Siegrain raised an eyebrow at the nickname before narrowing his eyes. "What do I have in common with her?"

Naruto's sweating intensified. "Well you two have similar glares and you guys like to point them at me... oh and you two have strange hair colors."

"Is this your attempt to weasel your way out of this situation?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's not working."

"Damn."

The wizard saint leaned back in the seat. "Don't tell me you've gotten soft on her," he said, shooting Naruto another look. "Do not forget your goal Naruto," Siegrain reached into his pocket, pulled out a small blue capsule and set it on the table, "and do not forget that if it weren't for me you would still be sitting at that bar, drinking your sorrows away. I am giving you one more week to bring her to me, any longer than that and you can forget about seeing your daughter again."

At the very mention of his daughter, he felt a sharp pain strike his heart. Siegrain expected him to get angry and start making a fuss about how he should never talk about his daughter, but his reaction was far from what the counselor had anticipated. Naruto sat there looking at the pill with a frown, completely silent.

"Do you understand?" Siegrain asked.

Naruto silently locked eyes with his employer. "Yeah..."

"Good." Siegrain stated as he began to slowly fade away. "Remember your goal. I hired you because you're a heartless thief, the greatest Fiore's ever seen, now where is THAT Naruto?"

Naruto silently lifted his gaze to the hologram of Siegrain which was now completely transparent. "I get it."

"Good now tell your guild that my business with you has concluded," When Siegrain had completely faded away Naruto heard one last line echo throughout the train car. "I hope to see you within the week."

Somberly nodding to no one Naruto opened the window and jumped out into the forest, his conversations with both Mirajane and Siegrain still fresh on his mind. He knew that soon he would have to choose, a life to bring back his daughter or "the right thing". Normally the choice would have been obvious, but, unfortunately, "the life required to bring his daughter back just so happened to be the topic of interest of Mirajanes conversation. What she said weighed heavily on his mind making this choice much more difficult.

* * *

 **Done.**


	8. Old Habits

Naruto had arrived at the entrance to Magnolia town after his brief run through the forest, still wondering what he should do. He cursed himself for suddenly gaining a conscience when he was so close to having his daughter back and cursed Mirajane for telling him things he would rather not have heard, but in the end, he was more annoyed with himself than with his white-haired friend.

The fact that he now considered the young woman a friend made him uneasy. He had spent years without friends, trying to build up the "I care only about myself." mentality only for his "daughter" to show up and change him and when he finally regained the mentality by becoming Fiore's greatest criminal he decided to get caught up with the Fairytail guild and once again bring back his old self. He still loved having friends, but he preferred to keep them as "acquaintances" rather than close friends.

No matter how hard he tried he couldn't deny that the old Naruto who desperately craved friendship and bonds still existed deep within his psyche and, much to his displeasure, was slowly starting to claw his way out from the deep recesses of his he figured that a few unsavory acts would kill whatever form of conscience he had.

* * *

 **Old Habits**

* * *

Natsu was walking down the street, enjoying his time with his little blue friend when he noticed a familiar head of blond hair poking out from behind a fully opened newspaper. What actually struck him as odd were the two holes in the newspaper that had two blue eyes peeking from beyond. Walking over to the bench where the man sat he slowly said, "Naruto?"

Naruto shot him a sharp glare. "SHH!" he snapped,"You trying to get me caught?"

Happy's wings manifested and he flew over to Naruto. "What are doing here?"

Naruto started to frantically look around before slowly hiding his face behind the newspaper once more. "Can you be any louder?"

"Aye!"

The blond sighed. "Look you wanna be useful? Then help me hit that bakery shop over there."

"WHAT!" the duo cried before Naruto slung his arms around their necks. "Be quiet," he whispered as he dragged them into a nearby ally. "What the hell's the matter with you two!"

When Natsu managed to break free from his hold he took a few frantic breaths and pointed a finger at him. "You were the one responsible for the mass thefts in Magnolia within the last couple of hours weren't you?"

"You act like you're surprised."

"But people work hard for that money!" Happy said.

At happy's comment, he raised an eyebrow before bursting out in laughter. Eventually, he lost his balance and fell on the ground, holding his gut as his laughter only intensified.

"What's so funny?" Natsu asked.

"You guys think I steal money in my free time!" he said, his laughter having died down just enough for him to speak.

"Are you saying you don't?" Natsu skeptically stated, his arms crossed. "The first time we saw you, you had a giant money bag slung over your shoulders!"

Naruto shrugged. "That was for an employer, I run a side business when I'm not out stealing stuff and in exchange, they pay me in groceries or shit they don't want anymore, never money."

"What kind thief are you then?" Happy asked.

The blond held up his finger. "A smart one!" he said with a smile. "You see the most common mistake other thieves make is stealing money, robbing banks and what not, and I think that's just stupid! What good is money when every store owner recognizes your face? You can't use dirty money EVER unless you wanna risk getting caught! Which is why I steal actual goods."

"So then why did you steal my savings that one night!"

Naruto shrugged. "I just did that to piss you off."

"You're sick you know that?" Natsu stated. "We don't want any part of this right happy?"

"Aye!"

"Let's go." Natsu said as he attempted to walk away only for Naruto to grab his scarf and pull him back.

"Oh come on Natalie!"

"The names Natsu!" he shouted before snatching the other end of his scarf back. "And even if I agreed to your stupid plan Erza would be pissed that I stole! The day we met you she told us that if we ever ended up like you, she would break some of our fingers!"

"Red's not gonna know."

"That doesn't mean I wanna do it!" With that, Natsu turned and started walking away with Happy flying close behind.

Naruto thought for a moment. "Oh well, I guess this is a little too tough for you." He smirked when he elicited the desired reaction from Natsu, who now stood motionless and in a midstep position. "I'll bet this would be a cakewalk for Gray." his smile grew when Natsu clenched his fists. "You know I remember hearing somewhere that Gray was leagues stronger than you and that he would be participating in the something called an S-class test, no mention about you though."

Naruto's last comment sent Natsu over the edge. Flames engulfed Natsu's entire body and his power began to flare outwards with enough force to send Happy flying into one of the dumpsters that littered the alley. "What do I have to do?"

* * *

 **Later...**

Natsu found himself standing at the entrance to the bakery holding an envelope with writing on the back that read. "Don't open this until you're in the bakery." Taking a few deep breaths Natsu fastened his ear piece, walked into the bakery and up to the counter where he preceded to open the envelope.

"How may I help you?" A young man at the counter asked with a smile.

"Uh," Natsu pulled out the piece of paper from the envelope and read, "Step one: improvise." out loud causing a look of confusion to spread across his and the cashiers face. Naruto and Happy were crawling through a ventilation shaft within the ceiling when they heard this through their own earpieces and simultaneously sighed.

"Is your friend always this stupid?"

"Aye."

Natsu's eye twitched. He pushed the earpiece further into his ear and shouted, "Who are you calling stupid blondie and Happy how could you betray me?"

"Shut up you idiot," Naruto whispered, "You'll blow our cover."

"Are you ok?" the man at the counter asked, "Having a rough day?"

Natsu sighed. "Yeah man especially since this blond asshole came and ruined my day!" he said, making sure to put an emphasis on "blond asshole". The mage began to scan the menu until his eyes landed on the cake section. 'Hmm strawberry cheesecake is Erza's favorite cake, I wonder what it tastes like?' he thought "I'll have one strawberry cheesecake slice ple-."

"Make that two please," a voice that froze Natsu in fear nearly every time he heard it said from behind, "and I would like to eat mine here."

From the within the shaft Naruto and Happy exchanged looks, both equally confused by Natsu's sudden silence, as they had already entered the kitchen area and could no longer hear Natsu without the earpiece. "Uh something wrong Natsu?"

Natsu turned pale, his mouth agape and his eyes widened in fear. "My fingers..." he muttered.

In that moment, Happy knew exactly what the problem was and he too froze in terror before muttering, "My paws..."

"What the hell is wrong with the two of you?"

"You've got something in your ear Natsu," Naruto heard the voice of the redhead say through his earpiece. "What's this for?"

Naruto fell silent and quickly switched off his and Happy's earpieces. "Damnit of all the times to show up it has to be now."

Happy began to tear up. "N-Naruto if she catches us she's gonna crush Natsu's fingers and my paws. I love my paws! I eat fish with them!"

"All right just calm down," he whispered, "We just need to grab a bunch of those delicious, mouth watering, beef ramen flavored muffins and the recipe if you can," Naruto said, his mouth watering in anticipation. "We can leave right after that."

"They have those?"

"Yup!" Naruto switched his earpiece back on, held a finger up to his mouth making a shushing gesture, and listened.

"I didn't know you enjoyed Strawberry cheesecake Natsu," they heard Erza's voice say through the earpiece. "Also you still haven't told me what this is for."

Quickly switching off the earpiece again Naruto and Happy exchanged looks and continued through the shaft. A few seconds later Naruto stopped in front of a vent and reached into his pocket "Alright Happy you gotta unscrew the screws and open this thing." Naruto said before handing Happy a screwdriver.

Happy nodded and complied with his demands. Gently sliding the vent cover away Happy walked out and started examining the area. "It's the kitchen and it looks like no one's here."

"Right," Naruto said as he pulled his body out of the shaft. "Ok now I want some muffins and the recipe if you can-"

"Look I found the recipe!" Happy said as he picked up a sheet of paper from a nearby counter and flew over to Naruto.

'How'd he get over there so fast?' Naruto thought before he smiled. "You know you got a knack for this line of work you little cat burglar." he said before petting the cat "C'mon let's get outa here."

Happy nodded and pointed to the back of the kitchen. "Hey, why didn't we use the back door over there?"

"Well if using that door was an option, we wouldn't have had to go through the vents now would we?"

"I still don't get why-" Happy was silenced when Naruto wrapped his hand over his mouth and pulled him into the vent. Before Happy could ask Naruto slid the vent back into place just before the workers walked in.

"Because the workers were on their break."

Happy nodded and turned his attention to the workers who were taking their positions and chatting amongst themselves. "Wait a second, why didn't we just wait until after hours? This place closes pretty early."

"Because if we waited that long then you guys might have bailed out on me.'

"Well, you don't actually need our help."

"Yeah you're right, but I like to make things interesting from time to time. Besides, I think you've discovered a talent." Naruto and Happy crawled back through the ventilation shaft after fist bumping and had almost made it to the exit when suddenly a blade pierced through the wall and stuck out through the vent, just in front of Happy.

"N-Naruto I think she's on to us." Happy said, his blue color now drained away out of fear. "W-what now?"

"Now? We switch on an earpiece and see what's going on."

The cat pulled out the earpiece from his backpack and switched in on just in time to catch Erza say, "That should get rid of the pest problem." Erza whispered as to not alert the others in the bakery.

"Geez, she almost gave me a heart attack," Naruto said in a hushed tone.

"Oh no, how are we gonna get outta here? The swords in the way and if we push it out she'll definitely know some things in here." Happy said before a fearful look came over his face. After quickly switching off the earpiece he continued, "My paws Naruto... my paws!"

Naruto remained silent for a while leaving Happy confused. He was about to say something when Happy's ears picked up on a particular bit of Erza's conversation with Natsu. "Now stay here while I go and pull them out of the vents."

"NATSU YOU SNITCH!" Naruto cried before scrambling out of the vents with Happy following close behind.

At the table where Erza and Natsu sat, Erza was trying on the earpiece and started tinkering with the volume on the earpiece when Naruto's voice destroyed her eardrums. It took a moment for her to recognize the voice but when she did she slowly pulled the earpiece out and crushed it with a blank expression. Her eyes bore into Natsu's very soul causing him to unconsciously shove his hands into his pockets.

"Give me your left hand."

"N-no!"

"Willingly submit your left hand to me now or I'll forcibly take your left AND right hands."

Her words had brought Natsu to visible tears as he slowly placed his left hand, palms facing up, on the table. Erza grabbed his thumb and stared at him.

"This hurts me more than it hurts you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" a cringe-inducing crack echoed throughout the bakery followed by a loud howl of pain. "IT HURTS ME MORE!"

"One more finger..."

"NO!"

Naruto and Happy watched the scene unfold from the window, their heads hidden just beyond the bread on display. Naruto went to speak only to be silenced by Natsu's blood-curdling scream. The duo exchanged looks before Naruto spoke up "You see Happy this is why I don't get caught, I don't want broken fingers."

"Well, at least, we got away with it. I'll have to bring Natsu to the doctors later."

Naruto and Happy glanced through the window one last time only to find that the duo had vanished.

"Oh no..." Happy said as he started to tear up.

"We're so fucked."

"Indeed, you are." Erza said as she placed one hand on Naruto's shoulder and her other on Happy's head "Happy, your left paw please..."

"A-aye."

* * *

 **Later...**

Naruto and Erza were walking away Natsu and Happy's residence after Erza had finished bandaging their fingers. Luckily Erza knew a thing or two about mending bones so a trip to the hospital wasn't necessary. All that was left on her agenda was to deal with Naruto.

"So what now?" Naruto said before he felt the familiar sharp metal circle his wrist followed by a click. "Really?"

"It is necessary to ensure you don't do this again."

"Oh come on I NEED this it's how I've lived for the past... um..." Naruto paused to count on his fingers, what Erza assumed were years, before continuing, "about ten-ish, maybe eleven years? Heh and that's not even counting before I left home."

"You've been this way since you were how old?"

"Ten."

'So all of those stories really were lies.' she thought, a disappointed look visible on her face. "May I ask you something?"

"No."

Erza ignored him. "Where were you born?"

Naruto came to a sudden stop and leaned up against a nearby tree. "Well I was born in the elemental nations, you know the secluded continent of ninjas, military dictatorships, beautiful scenery and what not."

"That's... very far."

"It is. Earthland's a big place." There was a long silence that ensued before Naruto broke the silence. "So can I ask you something?"

Erza nodded and crossed her arms. "Go ahead."

"Mira told me why you tried to cut off my arm." Naruto said before laughing at her embarrassed expression. "You know I think it's fitting to give you my mother's nickname from now on."

"And what would that be?"

"Tomato."

"I hate you."

"Really?" Naruto skeptically stated. "Because from what I've heard Mira thinks otherwise."

Erza grit her teeth. "What did she tell you?"

"Well..."

* * *

 **Earlier that day...**

Mirajane led Naruto through the park, still clinging to his arm and giving the impression to those they passed that they were a couple. Looks of shock and jealousy littered the faces of the people they passed until they made it to a park bench and sat.

"We're attracting an awful lot of attention," Naruto stated as he eyeballed a group of teenagers who were cracking their knuckles and glaring at him from behind a tree.

"Yes, we are."

"So what did you wanna talk about?"

"Erza."

Naruto bore a blank expression. "Oh... great."

"Don't be so mean to her," Mirajane pleaded. "She likes you y'know."

Naruto snorted. "And what gave off that impression?" the blond leaned back on the bench. "She did try to cut off my arm."

Mirajane hesitantly nodded. "Yes, but do you know why?"

"She's crazy."

"No..."

"Then why?"

A guilty look crossed Mirajanes face for a split second before it turned into a forced smile. "Well you see it may actually be my fault." Before Naruto could respond she held a finger up to silence him. "You see when you two walked in still cuffed together, I thought it was cute and when I saw Erza's embarrassed face. I couldn't help but make a few teasing gestures that may or may not have pushed her to try and cut off your arm."

"So she tried to cut off my arm because she was embarrassed?"

Mirajane slowly nodded.

"She is crazy."

"No not crazy, just a little bit... ok very awkward."

Naruto crossed his arms. "So are you apologizing to me?"

"No, I'm here to give you a few words of encouragement."

"On what?"

"Ask Erza on a date."

It took a while for Naruto to comprehend her request, but eventually narrowed one eye and asked, "Why?"

Mirajane smiled. "I told you I think she's attracted to you."

"No I mean why should I? She hasn't exactly given me a good impression since I met her."

"Well she's never had a boyfriend before and I think it would be a good experience for her. Like I said before she's very awkward when it comes to social interaction and I think having a boyfriend could help boost her social skills."

"So you want me to teach her the proper way to act others?"

"Mhmm."

"Well you're shit outta luck because I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not a social butterfly."

Her expression became a serious one, her smile and mood still intact. "look she really does like you. Maybe it's not love, but simply attraction and, I'm just throwing this out there, but if she really hated you then you would probably be on life support by now."

"Makes sense I guess."

Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a click. Looking down, he saw that both the handcuffs Mirajane had placed on him and the ones Siegrain had broken the chain on had fallen. Confused Naruto looked to Mirajane for answers only to see her hold up two keys with her usual smile.

"You had the other key?"

"Yeah, Erza dropped it on her way out of the guild." When Naruto didn't respond a she grew concerned. "Naruto?"

Naruto's face was red with comedic rage. His color came back when he cried out, "WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST GIVE HER THE KEY BEFORE SHE TRIED TO CUT MY ARM OFF!"

"I forgot!" Mirajane said as a waterfall of tears streamed down her face.

* * *

 **Present...**

When Naruto finished his story he looked to Erza to see her face as red as her hair. "So... are you attracted to me?"

"I don't know."

"I figured as much." Naruto stated, "You are awkward."

"And you're an asshole."

"Think so?"

"I know so," Erza said, yanking her cuffed arm with enough force to pull Naruto mere inches from her face. "Let's get something clear I don't know what Mira thinks I feel, but it is certainly not attraction! I would never EVER be attracted to someone like you!" When she finished her rant she unlocked the handcuffs and began walking in a random direction she had deemed worthy enough to tread.

Naruto stood there with an amused smile. As he watched her walk away he couldn't help but notice her peek over shoulder every once and a while. When she was out of sight he continued down the path they had been walking, his hands buried deep within his pockets, 'So she really does hate me,' he thought. 'That sucks, I was actually considering a date.'

Meanwhile, Erza had found a nice tree to sit behind shortly after she was out of Naruto's sight. She sat there in a fetal position, thinking and staring at the ground. 'It isn't attraction, it can't be. He's a criminal, an asshole, a petty thief with no conscience. So why do I feel this way?'

* * *

 **OK, I'm done! This chapter was super lengthy in celebration of two hundred follows so I hope this satisfies you guys for a little while. Writing is gonna be a bit more difficult now that school has started again, but I'll always try to meet the one chapter, once a week deadline.**


	9. Decision!

**Decision**

Erza scrambled Naruto's mind, as did most of the women he knew, but there was something about Erza that kept Naruto from reading her. Erza's expression before she left was that of legitimate dislike, but what he witnessed, her constant peeking over her shoulder and the reddish hue that was present on her face had directly contrasted her words and betrayed her expression. He couldn't tell if she was actually attracted to him or not, likewise, he couldn't tell if he was attracted to her or not either.

He wasn't going to lie, only a blind man would even associate her appearance with the word ugly. Naruto didn't find her personality to be distasteful either, as troublesome as it was, rather he saw it as unique at times and that's what brought feelings of attraction to mind. On the other hand, her personality was actually what made him hesitant to even consider asking her out on a date as Mirajane hoped. She was awkward, often unintentionally rude and forceful. These were three qualities that drew him to her and three qualities that kept him away.

Feeling the oncoming headache, he halted that train of thought and shook his head. As he wandered through Magnolia he passed by an average sized building with a sign that read "Rooms for rent."

"A motel?" he said as he approached the building "I could use a nice, warm, bed."

After swiftly snatching a random key from the manager's office he made his way to his new room on the second floor.

Naruto turned the key to the rusty lock on the run down door to his new, temporary, home and was immediately unsatisfied with what he saw. The apartment was dark, he could see holes in the walls, the place reeked of death and the paint was peeling off of the walls. The furniture wasn't in good shape either, but his opinion of the home was slightly bolstered when he spotted the clean mini fridge on the other side of his bed.

"Well, at least, this looks good," he said as he opened the fridge only to frown when he saw the decaying corpse of a raccoon lying beside some expired soda cans. Naruto shrugged and grabbed a can of the ancient soda before shutting the fridge door and plopping himself down on his bed 'Man if only I were a legal citizen of Fiore I would sue the hell out of this place.' he thought in annoyance as he gulped down the soda.

"This place sucks ass," he muttered as he stared at the ceiling "and *hiccup* so does this grape soda-" he trailed off when his vision began to blur. Slowly, he began to drift until eventually he succumbed to the effects of the millennial soda. The last thing he saw before he fell asleep was the label on the can 'Orange flavor?' he thought before drifting off into a deep sleep.

* * *

 **3 years ago...**

"Dad get down here!" a little blue-haired girl called to the sleeping blond man on the tree above her "It's my birthday today and you promised to take me the land of snow!" This girl was Himawari, Naruto's adopted daughter whom he had raised since she was three years old.

"What the hell do you want? I'm sleeping!"

"Get down here you lazy bastard and take me to go and see the snow!"

"What did you call me you little brat? Want me to come down there and kick your ass?"

"I'd like to see you try!"

Naruto shed a tear and smiled "I'm so proud of you." he muttered, "You've grown up so much since you were tiny."

Naruto lazily slid off of the tree and allowed himself to fall into the bushes below. When he went to stand he let out a pained grunt as he was suddenly pushed further into the bush when his daughter tackled him.

"Ok, now I taught you better than to be a kiss ass squirt."

"I can't hug my own dad?"

Naruto snorted "Don't pull the sympathy crap on me... you'll make me cry." he wiped a few tears away before returning her embrace "MY LITTLE GIRL IS GONNA BE 7 TODAY!"

"Hey, dad does this mean you'll start teaching me how to be a ninja?"

"AND SHE WANTS TO BE A NO GOOD DIRTY THIEF LIKE HER DADDY!"

Himawari was practically drowning in Naruto's tears as she tried to wiggle out of his hold. When Naruto finally released her he allowed Himawari to stand before sitting up "So are we going to the land of snow or what because you're getting any younger ya know?"

Her father nodded and lifted her onto his shoulders "You bet! Now hang on!"

* * *

 **Present.**

 **The following day...**

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. His body was drenched in sweat and was unnaturally warm. As he pulled himself out of the bed he noticed the he had fallen asleep with the can of orange soda in his hand. It had been crushed by his grip and as he observed what he originally thought to be grape soda he remembered his dream or rather a memory he had experienced every night of his life since the day he lost her, only now it was fragmented but much clearer than all of the other nights.

He used to wake up in the same manner for a couple of months since the event, but he had long since gotten used to it. Eventually, he would wake up, quickly forget about the dream and move on with the day by immersing himself in petty thievery and drinking, until he met Siegrain.

He met the counselor two years ago at a bar, how Siegrain knew he would be there he had no idea, but ever since that day he had worked alongside him in order to achieve some mad dream, but if it meant getting his daughter back he would do anything, even kill. Another question arose every time he thought about this dream of Siegrains, who is Zeref?

As he pondered the potential meaning of his dream the foul stench of the dead raccoon assaulted his nose 'I think I'll just ask the old man.' he thought as he pinched his nostrils together.

Upon opening the door, he was met with a rather pointy spear mere inches from his face. Unfazed he asked, "Can I help you?"

"Naruto Uzumaki you are under arrest!" the man wielding the spear said "We've got the place surrounded so come quietly an-"

"No thanks, Mr. Rune Knight I think I'll just stay here." Naruto said before slamming the door shut "Don't come back!" he cried.

Visibly annoyed the knight went to kick in the door only for it to fly open and send him over the guard railing and down onto the hard pavement. Naruto immediately rushed out of the room and made his way to he stairs. He could hear the shouts and cries of the rune knights as they ordered each other to capture him and to not let him get away.

Peeking over his shoulder, he saw that three rune knights were on his tail, but before he could react he had already misstepped and fallen down a flight of stone stairs. One of the rune knights went to incapacitate him with a thunder spell but missed as Naruto scrambled to his feet and fled into the motel office. With a look of panic spread across his face, Naruto began to use anything he could find to barricade the door.

The man in the room noticed him and leaned back in his seat with terror present on his face "Y-you! The knights should have arrested you already!"

"Oh so you're the one who snitched on me," Naruto said as he pushed a small couch in front of the doorway "Hey be useful Mr. Manager guy and help me barricade these door's and windows!"

"N-no a-as a proud citizen of Fiore I have no choice but to-"

"Yeah, yeah quit yammering and hand me that steel bar," Naruto pointed to a metal bar situated in a corner of the room before propping his back up against two large double doors.

"UZUMAKI'S IN HERE!" a group of voices called from beyond the steel double doors.

The manager rushed over and grabbed the steel bar.

Naruto extended his arm and gestured for the manager to hand the object to him.

The man stared at the bar for a few seconds before gripping it with both hands and charged at Naruto, his improvised weapon held high above his head. The manager brought the bar down with all the force he could muster only for the bar to stop mere inches above his targets head.

Naruto snatched the bar out of his hands and placed it between the door handles "Thanks!" he said, seemingly unaware of the man's intentions.

"Y-you're welcome?"

"Alright, you got any exits I can take or what?"

Not wanting to be in the room with the blond man any longer he gestured to the small hatch behind his desk "T-there."

Naruto walked over to the hatch, grabbed the handle and tugged "It's jammed!" he exclaimed.

The manager watched as the blond attempted to open the small metallic door before he directed his gaze to the crowbar beside his desk. Once again he gripped his weapon with both hands, brought it over his head and swung downwards only for Naruto to once again snatch it from his grasp.

Naruto nodded "Good thinking pal!" he said before forcing the hatch open "You know you got a really weird way of handing people things."

The man was as pale as a sheet, silent and unmoving.

"Man this poor guy can't handle tension at all."

The sound of the rune knights entering the room caught his ears. After taking a quick glance at the abyss, he was about to plunge into he slid into the hole and closed the hatch.

* * *

 **Later...**

Naruto stealthily entered the guild. It was still rather early in the morning and the guild wouldn't be open for another hour.

Quietly, he slowly opened the door to the guild masters office "Hey old man you here?"

Makarov looked up from his work and raised an eyebrow "Naruto?"

"Yeah, it's me. So uh I have a question."

"Ok?"

"Who is Zeref?"

There was no immediate reaction from the guild master instead the old man brought a finger to his chin and made eye contact with him "And what would you do with that information?"

"I'm just curious, I hear he's the strongest mage of all time, but that's about it."

"Well not much is actually know about Zeref, but we do know that he is the creator of all etherious demons and was the evilest mage history has ever seen."

'Great so I'm working for a guy who wants to end the world!' Naruto thought without thinking to mask his troubled expression, a mistake that didn't go unnoticed by Makarov.

Makarov stood on top of his desk with his arms held behind his back and once again locked eyes with the blond "Now I have a question for you."

"Alright."

"Why did you really come to Fairytail?"

"I told you I-"

"Don't lie to me I can tell you hated doing every single job you took and it wasn't because Erza monitored your every move."

Shocked, Naruto opened his mouth to say something only to remain silent. With a heavy sigh, he leaned up against the door frame and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"You've never done honest work in your life up until this point have you?"

"Well no-"

"And you disliked every job you did because it was honest work correct?"

"Yeah."

"So why are you here? Fairytail is all about honest work, family and doing the right thing. At the very mention of any of those things it makes you gag doesn't it?"

Naruto shrugged "Yup."

Not expecting his sudden and blunt answer Makarov narrowed his eyes "So why are you here?"

"Because I felt like it, but as it turns out this life really isn't for me so I'll be leaving in a week."

"Why a week?"

"I need money for a one-way ticket out of Fiore."

Makarov didn't buy a single word of what he said. What truly worried Makarov was that he said everything with such certainty and without so much as a stutter that had he been someone else or perhaps many years younger he would have fallen for his act completely 'he's a good liar I'll give him that.'

"Anywho old man the rune knights are kinda after me so-"

"You're on your own there."

Naruto sighed "Yeah I figured."

As Naruto went to exit he suddenly heard the old man's voice call from behind "Naruto before you go I must tell you something." Makarov waited until Naruto turned around before he continued "I won't lie to you. I do not trust you and if you do anything to hurt my family I will personally deal with you." Makarovs expression became serious "do you understand?"

With a nod, Naruto exited the room and left the guild.

His job just got even harder. Now, if he wanted to see his daughter again, then he would have to figure out how to deal with one of Fiore's most powerful mages. On the other hand, if he went against Siegrain and left Fiore, a decision he was currently leaning away from, then not only would he never see his daughter again, but if Siegrain actually managed to revive Zeref then he would probably be one of the first to face execution in this "New world" he planned to bring about.

Amongst all of the pros and cons of each choice, he made the decision that morning. He argued that he loved his daughter too much to make any other decision and that the opportunity would never arise again. He would be sentencing a woman, who most likely bore feelings for him and that he potentially bore feelings for, to her death, but as a father his daughter came first and as much as he would come to dislike this decision he would go through with it. After all, he was a cold, heartless bastard, a liar, and a thief, not a hero.


	10. Nightly Torment, Temporary Servitude!

**Nightly Torment, Naruto's Temporary Servitude**

* * *

 **3 years ago...**

A shallow breath was cut short by the sickening noise of a blade slicing flesh that chilled the witness of this crime to the very bone. It crushed his heart to see his daughter cut down by the very weapon that he teased her for having an affinity for. Tears slowly flooded his vision as he watched his daughter fall into the thick snow that covered the land.

Naruto didn't react immediately he just stared at the spot where his daughter lay, a mixture of anger, regret and sorrow running rampant in his mind. He fell to his knees before eyeing the man responsible for the slaying of his precious little angel. A somber, "Don't worry darling it'll be alright," escaped his lips as he weakly attempted to bring himself back to his feet. "I promised it would be alright remember?

She didn't respond. All signs of life were gone, she wasn't breathing, and her widened eyes were lifeless. The longer he looked at her the more he regretted bringing her here in the first place, especially when he noticed the terror, the last emotion she felt, still evident in her eyes.

The figure eyed Naruto, a triumphant smirk plastered on his face. "Well? What did you think would happen?"

His words struck a chord inside of Naruto that sent him into a silent rage, he no longer felt sorrow or regret only anger.

"You took her into battle," he continued to taunt, "you are a failure as a father."

At the mention of the very word that Naruto had to live with for the entirety of his early life, coupled with the mention of his parental failure, his eyes became red for a split second before his body was enveloped in a thick red energy that seared his skin as it slowly transformed him into a monster.

A beastly roar shook the land of snow.

* * *

 **Present**

Naruto was awoken by a sharp pain in his left side. On instinct, he pushed himself to his feet and readied to fight whoever would dare to disturb his naptime only to sigh in annoyance when he recognized the face under the hood of the figure who attacked him.

"What do you want Ultear?"

"Siegrain thinks you're getting lazy," she said, "and from the looks of things he's right."

Irritated, the ninja ran a hand through his hair before asking, "So did you come here just to wake me up?"

"No, I came here to help you."

"I don't need help."

Annoyed at his reluctance she put her hands on her hips an said, "Well it's too late because I helped you anyway."

"So technically you didn't come here to help me rather you came here to tell me that you helped me."

"Now I see why most people who are unfortunate enough to cross your path don't like you, luckily for you, I'm not like most people."

"Yeah, yea- what?"

After a long silence and a brief moment of awkward eye contact that Naruto desperately tried to break away from Ultear decided to continue.

"I put your target out of commission during one of her missions."

Naruto sighed. "She didn't see you did she?"

"She did, but I disguised myself."

"Ok so why didn't you just capture her there?"

"Because she had backup and I was out of steam. Siegrain told me to just leave the rest up to you."

Naruto's left eye twitched eliciting a chuckle from Ultear.

"Now you have the rest of the week to bring her to the tower." Ultear waited for Naruto to nod before continuing, "So what do you say me and you-"

"I'm good."

Ultear let out a disappointed sigh. "Well I tried I suppose that's all that matters."

Upon departure with his comrade Naruto began walking to the guild. He had relived his dream once again, but this time, every little detail was extremely clear. Eventually, he just decided not to think too hard on it since all that would come of this would be a headache.

As he went to push the doors open he remembered the last thing Makarov told him. "He's gonna kill me," he muttered before entering the guild.

Like he had anticipated everyone in the guild immediately sent him a glare. Oddly enough he was starting to feel like those glares were justified, it was partly his fault since he had taken too long to capture her. Ultear wouldn't have had to do what she did had he just been a bit more decisive.

Naruto entered the guild infirmary and walked over to the crowd gathered around a bed "Hey what happened here?"

The guild master turned to face the newcomer. "You didn't have anything to do with this did you?"

"Well, I'm responsible for a lot of things so you're gonna have to specify what you want here."

At that moment, Natsu walked in while carrying a small plate of cake. "Someone beat Erza."

"Is that all? It's not that difficult to defeat a requip mage you know."

"Easy for you to say you know how to cheat!"

"Hey if you wanna know the secret to beating all requip mages then go make me a sandwich.

Before he could react Makarov jumped up and pulled Naruto down by his collar "So you admit it!"

"I'm not admitting anything!"

"Master," Mirajane chimed in. "From what Cana told me, Erza was attacked by a female... only she looked like a male."

"And how do I know that Naruto isn't actually is a woman in disguise?"

"Look, old man, I don't know what you think a woman is, but I can assure you that I am a male."

"Hmm... fine."

"No really, you can check if you want!"

"That won't be necessary!"

"Well not much we can do now," Gray stated, "The guild repairs are almost done, but we're short a couple thousand jewel to pay for plumbing and electricity."

Makarov nodded. "Yes and I still have to get the new guild building registered with the council," he said before directing his attention to the mages present in the room. "Gray, Natsu I want you two start working on getting the rest of the money we need. Mira, I need your help with the paperwork."

Sensing an oncoming request Naruto slowly began to back out of the room. He stopped and rolled his eyes when the floorboards beneath him creaked.

"Oh, Naruto I have a job for you."

"No thanks, I've got places to be."

"No, you don't. You need to be here, after all, you came to this guild because you wanted to do something good in your life right?" Makarov stated with a smirk. "You are to be Erza's servent when she awakes-"

"HOLD IT!" Naruto exclaimed. "No."

"No?"

"No."

The old man began to laugh. "You don't have a say in the matter."

"Welp that's what you think."

"It's what I know my boy because if you don't go through with this then I will have no reason to trust you and will remove you from the guild."

Naruto kept a straight face on the outside, but was panicking within his mind 'DAMNIT! I have to go through with this... wait this may actually make my job easier.' He agreed with a nod coupled with a heavy sigh.

"Good," Makarov said before exiting the room, thinking he had Naruto figured out 'Now I'll be able to keep an eye on him. This should throw a wrench in whatever he plans on doing before leaving the guild at the end of the week.'

When he heard the door close Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out the pill. "I might be able to do this now." Naruto glanced at the glass of water at her nightstand. "Alright time to-"

"Naruto?"

Out of panic, Naruto clenched his fists effectively crushing the capsule in his hands and scattering it contents. 'Shit.'

Erza sat up and narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Well uh-"

She stared at him for a moment until a look of realization came over her face. The last thing she remembered was falling unconscious at the hands of a mysterious hooded figure. "Have you come to mock me?"

Slightly confused as to how she came to that conclusion he waited a moment before shrugging and saying. "Sure, now you hungry or what?"

"What?"

"Thirsty?"

"No I mean why are you asking if I'm hungry?"

"Well, our guild master in all of his neverending wisdom thought it would be a good idea to make me your personal slave. Whoopie."

It took a moment for his words to register in her head, but eventually she caught on and nodded. "Well if that's the case I want you to make me-" she paused to take a look at the window and judge the time of day. "Lunch."

"Ok, what do you want?"

"Cake please."

"A sandwich it is then."

Erza gave him a look. "If you step out of line servant I'll stab you."

"Uh huh sure," Naruto said before leaning in close to her face. "stab me the-" he stopped when he felt a sharp sting in his left hand before he looked down to see a knife embedded in the back of his hand. "Really?"

"Cake please."

* * *

 **Later...**

Naruto re-entered the room with a bandaged hand and a serving of cake in his other hand. "Here's your damn cake," he bitterly stated as he handed her the small plate "Anything else my queen?"

"No, I am satisfied... for now."

Naruto rolled his eyes and went to exit the room only to crush the door knob in annoyance when Erza called him back. "Yes mistress?"

"Would you mind bringing my goldfish here?"

"You have a goldfish?"

Erza nodded. "Mr. Bubbles comforts me in my times of need."

"Mr. Bubbles?"

She nodded once more.

"Sure."

* * *

 **At Fairy Hills...**

Naruto knocked on the front door and stood outside for a good ten minutes before he grew impatient and started banging on the door until it slowly began to open. The door opened to reveal a rather short elderly woman.

Kneeling down to eye level Naruto went to ask something only for the woman to bury her fist in his face. Before he could recover she had flipped him over with her foot and pulled his arms behind his back. "What is your problem!"

"My problem? What the hell's your problem you old hag?"

"What did you call me?"

Naruto went to retort, but his words died in his throat when the woman began to pull his fingers back. " OH GOD! I'm just here for Erza's fish!"

The woman cocked her head sideways before releasing him. "Don't cause any trouble."

When Naruto was on his feet he turned to say something only for his words to die in his throat when he noticed that the woman had vanished. "What the hell?"

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" the voice of a young woman asked.

Naruto turned to face the newcomer. "You're Cana right?"

"I am and you're Fiore's most wanted correct?"

"Yup."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Red asked me to get her goldfish for her."

"Mr. Bubbles?"

"Sure."

Cana walked ahead and gestured for him to follow her. "Well I don't know if she got a new goldfish or not, but Mr. Bubbles has been dead for a whole year now."

"Wait, what?"

"Like I said, maybe she got a new fish."

They continued through the apartment complex until Cana stopped at one of the rooms and attempted to open it. "Locked."

"Stand back." Naruto said before brandishing a screwdriver and kneeling in front of the door.

"How fast can you pick that lo-" she paused mid-sentence, mouth agape when she saw Naruto ram the screwdriver into the door knob then begin violently thrashing it about until he effectively destroyed lock.

The door opened slowly.

'Well that's one way to pick a lock I guess'

Naruto entered and started looking around. "Man does she use all of these armors?"

"I don't think so."

Naruto began to walk the many corridors that made up her room, marveling at the wide variety of magic armors. Upon entering one of the room, he spotted a manakin that wore a vest he recognized as the jounin standard issue in the hidden leaf village and a blank headband that rested on the shoulder.

"Where'd she get this?"

Cana walked over and eyed the manakin. "That's from her trip to the elemental nations, one of the S-class jobs she took two years ago."

"So they just give these away now?"

"Well no, Erza's mission was to eliminate an A-class rouge ninja that was terrorizing the Hidden Leaf Village. From what she told us, they weren't able to pay her in full because they had just survived a devastating terrorist attack that turned the village into a crater.

"Why couldn't they handle the job?"

"Turns out some of their best ninja died during the attack and as a result, their military force suffered greatly."

Naruto's mood dampened. "So what's going on over there now?"

"Last I heard that territory is currently contested between the sand and cloud ninja."

"So the Hidden leaf village doesn't exist anymore?"

Cana nodded. "You seem troubled by this."

"It's probably nothing" Naruto decided to change the subject before he forgot why he was here. "Where's the fish at?" he said before spotting a bowl full of green water beside one of her armors. "There you ar- eww."

"Yeah, Erza forgot to feed it one day and no one's had the heart to tell her that it died."

"I mean... whats her explanation for why it's just a bunch of floating bones?"

"Well, originaly she thought it was just playing dead, now... I'm not sure."

Naruto grabbed the bowl and got a closer look at the corpse of Mr. Bubbles. "Well, she said this thing brings her comfort. It's like a teddy bear, but in a morbid kind of way."

"Yeah... she may need help."

"Well, thanks for showing me around." Naruto said before opening up a window, the bowl containing the remains of Mr. Bubbles tucked loosely in his left arm "Later!" he said before jumping out of the window.

Unfortunately, his foot got caught on the window frame and Naruto was sent plummeting two stories to the ground.

Cana rushed over to the window but stopped when something caught her eye. A fish bowl with a living goldfish that resided within.

Outside Naruto was busy picking shards of glass out of his face when Cana approached him with a fish bowl held tightly in her arms. "Try to be more careful with this one."

"Oh, so this must be the real Mr. Bubbles."

"Yeah I was right she did buy a new fish."

"Ok now hand it here so I can bring it to her."

Cana complied and handed Naruto the bowl. "Don't drop it now you hear?"

"Yeah, no problem."

After the Naruto departed Cana turned to re-enter the building only to stop dead in her tracks when she heard Naruto cry, "MR. BUBBLES NOOO!" Cana shivered at the thought of what potentially occurred, but eventually decided to ignore it and pretend like this never happened.

* * *

 **At the guild...**

"Why is Mr. Bubbles green?"

Naruto, who bore a guilty smile began to rub the back of his head. "What are you talking about? He's a rich golden color."

"I'm not color blind something is wrong with my goldfish." Erza examined the fish for a moment longer before he eyes widened. "This can only mean one thing."

"Ok I'm sorry I-"

"Mr. Bubbles must have ascended!" Erza said before affectionately hugging the glass bowl. Her eyes shot open when she realized what she was doing and she quickly resumed her normal posture. "I mean he must have... uh?"

'She is crazy!'

"Thanks for doing this favor for me and as a reward you may take the rest of the day off."

Naruto looked to the window then back at her. "Gee thanks for giving me the rest of the night off, I mean I totally would love to go to a nice restaurant or something... oh wait THEY'RE ALL CLOSED!"

Erza extended her arms, the fish bowl still within her grasp. "Would you like to talk to Mr. Bubbles about your problems?"

"HE'S A FREAKING FISH!"

"He's my friend and an official member of Fairytail."

"That one isn't..." Naruto muttered.

"What?"

Naruto jumped into the bed beside her and buried his face inside the pillow. "I'm going to bed."

Erza shrugged and turned over in her bed. She set her fish on the nightstand beside her and pulled out a small book, having assumed Naruto was already asleep she began to read it. Naruto, however, was actually watching in amusement as Erza became immersed in a novel that he recognized as a best seller in the elemental nations.

"Hey you perv would you mind turning off that light?"

The redhead looked at him before directing her attention back to the book. "Actually I would; I'm getting to the good part.'

Naruto rolled his eyes before turning over and closing his eyes.

About an hour later Erza was still buried in the pages of Icha Icha paradise when she noticed that Naruto had started tossing and turning in his sleep. Slightly concerned Erza directed her full attention to the blond.

"Himawari," he muttered, his body having long since turned to face Erza. "It'll be fine I promised."

'Himawari?' Erza thought before her attention was directed to the face of the man across from her. 'Perhaps his sister, lover... maybe daughter?' Her mind was currently polluted with the erotic writings of Icha Icha and because of this she had begun to wonder, although most would say fantasize, how Naruto made that daughter. When things started getting erotic she quickly froze that thought and directed her gaze away from Naruto.

Erza glared at the book on her nightstand. 'Damn this book.'

* * *

 **Done!**


	11. Building Trust

**Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Building Trust**

* * *

After hours of endless searching, Naruto had finally found a drug as potent as the one originally given to him by Siegrain. His only concern at the moment was whether or not it would kill her, after all, he had bought it off of a shifty looking back ally merchant with a pedophilic grin that put Orochimaru to shame.

It hadn't occurred to him until now that, maybe, he was lied to. There was only one way to find out.

Naruto entered the infirmary with a glass of water in hand that had suspiciously turned blue after dropping the capsule inside. No alarm bells were going off yet however, he still had faith that it was a sleeping drug.

"Here's your water," Naruto said as he handed Erza the glass.

Erza grabbed the glass and gave it a once over before narrowing her eyes and glancing up at Naruto. "What is this?"

"It's water."

"Last I checked water isn't blue."

Naruto snorted. "Ever heard of the ocean?"

Although slightly annoyed with his answer she opted to drink the mysterious liquid anyway. Throwing all caution to the wind, she brought the glass up to her lips and was about to drink the "water" when suddenly it started to fizz.

Immediately Naruto grabbed the glass and threw it at one of the walls, splattering its contents.

"Ok, so it's not water."

Erza was about to say something when she noticed that the water had begun to corrode the wooden walls at a rapid pace.

A look of anger crossed Erza's features. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Well, I may or may not have slipped a sleeping pill into your water so I could play a prank on you later."

"Sleeping pills shouldn't contain volatile substances!"

"Well, I made sure you didn't drink it didn't I?"

A vein popped out of Erza's forehead. "You're lucky I'm sore."

"Ooh, scary!" Naruto mocked.

Once their fierce glaring match had concluded Naruto lay down on the bed next to her and Erza began reading her book. After hearing a series of gasps, Naruto turned his head to look at Erza and found her deeply immersed in her book.

'Hmm well, the drug dream is just about dead,' he thought. 'Looks like I need to gain her trust.'

It didn't seem that bad when he thought about it, however upon further pondering, he realized that the odds of him gaining her trust within four days were slim to none. Unfortunately for him, it was his only hope.

"Hey, Red you still reading that book from last night?" When he didn't receive a reply he repeated, "Hey Red!"

Still no response from the mage.

"Yo perv!"

Clearly agitated, she closed the book and violently slammed it on the nightstand beside her. "What?"

"What's it about?"

Assuming he meant the book her mood changed. "Oh, well it's about-"

For the next ten minutes, Erza began to talk about the book until Naruto eventually tuned her out. 'Man, what's her deal? Is the book that great?'

"...Despite what most people think, the romance in this story is something to admire. You can really feel the sexual tension between the characters as well as the passion behind their actions."

Naruto yawned. "Right, I'll take your word for it." he said as he picked his ear with his pinky "I'll pick up a copy later then."

"Why? I have the book right here."

"Um, aren't you reading that?"

Erza grabbed the book and tossed it to him. "I've read it three times already, it's my favorite in the series."

Naruto began flipping through the pages. 'No pictures...' he thought in disappointment 'I haven't read an actual book in years.' As he was dreading the upcoming reading session he suddenly had an idea.

"What the hell is this language."

"English... what do you think you're speaking?"

"Japanese."

Erza raised an eyebrow. "You can't be serious! You can't read?"

"Shutup that's not the point!"

"Then what is the point?"

"... I can't read English." Naruto said, putting an emphasis on English. "Uh.. can you read it to me?"

Erza's face turned red. "Absolutely not!" she snapped.

"Why not?" he asked.

"If you could read then you would understand why this isn't a possibility!"

"Then teach me how to read," Naruto said before handing her the book.

A thoughtful look appeared on Erza's face. 'It seems I have no choice.' she thought before she replied, red-faced. "Fine, I'll read it to you, but only the first chapter!" Erza opened the book and flipped to the first page.

Naruto nodded and sat down on the bed beside her while leaning in close in order to get a good look at the pages, not realizing that he was invading Erza's personal space.

"Why are you so close to me?"

"Well if you're gonna read it to me I might as well try and follow along."

"T-that's not necessary."

Naruto ignored her and fixed his eyes on the first word of the chapter. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Don't rush me!"

* * *

 **10 chapters Later...**

"Damn!" Naruto enthusiastically exclaimed. "One more chapter!"

Erza fell back after finishing a rather spicy love scene between the protagonist and his love interest. Simply reading a single chapter of Icha Icha in her head was enough to leave her blushing, she, however, had read ten entire chapters out loud and with company.

"Hey, are you ok?" Naruto asked when a stream of steam began shooting out of Erza's ears.

She buried her head into her pillow so she could avoid his gaze. "I don't think I can handle another chapter!" she said, her cries muffled by the pillow.

Naruto sat there, watching her squirm in amusement before he noticed that the room had gotten darker. He turned his gaze towards the window and noticed it was nighttime. The realization dawned on him that he had just wasted an entire day immersed in the writings of the genius, Jiraiya the toad sage.

He looked over at Erza and began toying with the idea of just hitting her over the head with the lamp and dragging her unconscious body to the shore. In the end, he figured that it would only serve to agitate her rather than knock her out and suddenly he would have to deal with the entire guild. "She isn't going anywhere-" he trailed off before running a hand through his hair. "Great."

* * *

 **The following day...**

 **3 days until the deadline...**

'Ok attempt 2,' Naruto thought as he entered the infirmary with a glass cup full of green liquid. 'That guy better not have lied to me this time!'

Erza looked up from her breakfast that consisted of a single slice of strawberry cake and sighed when she noticed Naruto enter the room. She crossed her arms and glared at him when she noticed the color of her drink.

"Here ya go, orange juice!"

The Requip mage remained silent and maintained her glare.

"What's wron-" Naruto paused when he felt a stinging sensation in his hand. He dropped the glass causing its contents to spill out onto his foot. To his surprise the liquid began to sizzle and pop before it combusted, setting him on fire.

Erza watched, her glare still intact, as Naruto attempted to put the fire out. Eventually, after two straight minutes of rolling, the fire eventually went out leaving Naruto gray and smoking.

"Is this your latest attempt at my life? Arson?"

"No! I'm not trying to kill you!" he cried "That lunatic in the back ally's of Magnolia is!"

Erza mouthed his last phrase before reaching forward and pulling him close so their faces were only inches away from each other. "Why are you buying things from a lunatic in the back ally's of Magnolia?"

"Because all of those sleeping pills at regular pharmacies are weak!"

"How potent do you need them... wait how long do you want me knocked out?"

Naruto thought for a moment before saying, "Hey I was just gonna paint on your face, but you look like a pretty alert sleeper and I didn't want to take any chances!"

Erza released him and went to grab her cake only to be sent into a silent rage when she saw her cake had been smashed by Naruto's body.

"So are we gonna read the next chapter or what?"

The mages' face went red before grabbing the book and stuffing it under her pillow "No we aren't."

"Oh, cmon!"

"No."

"Fine, I'll read it to you!"

It took a moment for her to fully grasp what he had just said, but after a moment she narrowed an eye and began "I thought you couldn't read?"

"I lied." he bluntly stated, "I just thought it would be funny if-"

A hard punch that packed the strength of a boulder collided with his cheek, sending him flying into a wall.

"Ok... I'm sorry."

"You made me read ten chapters of the most erotic novel known to mankind out loud and you're sorry?"

"Well yeah. tell you what I'll read the last chapters to you how does that sound?"

Erza responded by picking up the plate and tossing it at him like a frisbee. Naruto caught the plate, mere inches from his face and used it to block the barrage of oncoming projectiles.

"Hey-" he began as he dodged a lamp. "Where the hell are you getting all of these things!"

Erza began to feel around beside her only to frown when she realized that she had run out of things to throw.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief only for his eyes to widen and his relief to vanish when Erza picked up the bed and hurled it at him. Diving out of the way Naruto glanced over at Erza, then at the bed which slowly began to fall on top of him. He rolled out of the way and onto his feet before brandishing a plate shard and holding it up in front of him.

In response, the red-head picked up the fork she had been using and began to spin it around in her hands. "You're dead."

"Oh, you think you're cool huh?" Naruto said before he began mimicking her by twisting and turning the plate shard.

The two locked eyes and began to circle one another before dashing forward and clashing porcelain against silverware.

"Your plate shard may be a bigger weapon than my fork, but it is also a double-edged sword!" Erza said before pushing forward and stabbing downward with the fork.

Naruto, who was starting to regret his weapon choice as it was starting to cut into his hands and he couldn't afford to swap his weapon or risk taking a fork to his throat. Seeing an oncoming attack, he brought the plate shard up and stopped her attack by placing it in between the prongs. "Ha, but you have no range!"

As the fight progressed Naruto found himself slowly getting pushed farther and farther into a corner. Luckily for him, there was a pristine night lamp sitting on one of the nightstands. After a series of clashes, Erza's fork prevailed against Naruto's plate shard forcing Naruto to grab the lamp in order to shield his body from Erza's relentless assault.

"Are you trying to kill me?"

"Were you not trying to kill me earlier?"

"I told you I thought it was a sleeping pill!"

Erza lunged forward, her fork poised for Naruto's chest. The blond sidestepped causing Erza to embed her fork into the wall. Seizing this moment to capitalize on her weakness Naruto swung his lamp, but halted his attack midway and jumped back in shock as she lifted the nightstand by one of the drawers and swung it at him.

Having managed to pull her fork out from the wall, she punted the nightstand at Naruto and charged.

After using his lamp to parry the stand Naruto dropped the lamp and lunged forward, tackling Erza in the process. Before Erza could react she was pinned to the ground with Naruto laying on top of her with a grin on his face.

"So what's this? My second win?"

Erza stared, baffled that she lost the battle of improvised weaponry, but was slightly impressed with his skill. He was fast, considering the fact that she hadn't even noticed he had pinned her down until he declared his victory and his reflexes were spot on.

"So uh, are you gonna stop attacking now?"

Brought out of her stupor Erza made eye contact with the blond before her eyes widened in realization as she took note of their position. He was uncomfortably close to her face and he was using his weight to pin her down.

Naruto was wondering why she had gone silent all of a sudden. It didn't take long for him to realize why, not after they had gone through ten chapters of Icha Icha.

It dawned on them in that moment that anyone who walked in could interpret this scene the wrong way. As a result, they remained silent, opting to stare at one another until one of them had the courage to speak up.

Suddenly the door opened and in walked Mirajane, holding a plate with the basic breakfast foods. "Here ya go Erz-" she paused when she noticed that the room had been trashed and blushed when amidst the chaos, Naruto and Erza lay pressed together and staring intently into one another's eyes.

Naturally, her mind was running wild with potential situations that brought them to this state.

'Must have been some rough foreplay,' Mira thought as she took note that they were both still clothed.

Just then Natsu walked into the room. "Hey, Mira what's the special today-" Natsu stopped when he saw the two lying on the ground.

By now Naruto and Erza had noticed and were frantically searching their minds for an excuse.

"Hey Mira where's Elfm-" Gray said before being thrown into a similar state as the others.

Naruto stood up. "Relax it was nothing. Red here just tried to kill me."

Erza, who was still lying on the ground, snapped back, "It was warranted."

"Warranted? I just wanted to pull a friendly prank!"

Those who had recently entered the room watched as Erza and Naruto began to bicker, seemingly as if they had forgotten their presence. Feeling ignored they let out a collective, 'Ahem!' which was enough to catch their attention.

"Oh, when did you guys get here?" Naruto asked.

"You addressed us just a couple seconds ago!" they cried.

* * *

 **Elsewhere...**

A familiar blue haired man sat upon a throne, legs crossed and enjoying a glass of fine champagne. His mind was currently occupied by a certain red-headed requip mage. A wide grin crossed his face whenever he thought about her and the plans he had for her.

Midway through his drink, a man with his exact appearance materialized before him causing his grin to grow wider.

"Hello me," he said while setting his glass down. "Has that blond idiot gotten around to completing our task."

"No," he replied, "He hasn't... you should know this."

"Yes you're right I should know, but I feel less lonely when I'm talking to someone else."

"Your sanity is depleting we must re-merge for a moment..."

"No, it's fine. I'll be fine, but seriously what's the report on Uzumaki's mission?"

Siegrains eyes widened "How do you not know?"

His doppelganger's amused smile turned into a frown. "That shinobi's energy, his chakra, is interfering with the link between our minds during your conversations with him." Seeing his clones confused expression he continued, "I sense that you do not know why this is happening," he said, "It troubles me knowing that my doppelganger knows things that I don't and lacks the knowledge of things that I know."

"Why is this happening?"

The young man's frown turned into a look of rage. "His power is so potent and untamed it's practically oozing off of him!" he suddenly shouted, breaking his composure. "The link between our minds is connected using our ethernano and his chakra is corrupting that link and it's CORRODING MY MIND!"

Instinctively Siegrain placed his hand on his counterparts forehead causing a light to envelop the room. When the light cleared there stood the man, Siegrain was nowhere to be found, with a look of relief on his face.

"Uzumaki... you have served me well up until now," he said through heavy breaths as his lips curled into a smile. "Perhaps you just need a little push."

"Jellal," a massive young man said as he entered the room followed by a rather angular and blocky man, "we heard your screams."

"Simon... just the man I wanted to see."

"What do you need?"

'Uzumaki you want your daughter and Simon want's Erza... if I offer to spare her then perhaps Simon will have all the motivation he needs to bring Naruto down,' he thought. 'Win or lose Naruto I will have Erza because the winner WILL bring her to me.'

"Jellal?"

* * *

 **Done!**


	12. Ultear's Suggestion

**Ultear's Suggestion**

* * *

 **1 day until the deadline.**

After a series of events leading up to now, Erza found herself staring face to face with an old friend in the middle of a forest. Naruto stood by her side with minor scratches adorning various parts of his body and clothing.

"Simon, where have you been all these years!" the redhead asked.

Naruto looked at Erza then back at Simon. 'So she knows him?'

Simon stood across from them in a similar, albeit slightly worse, state as Naruto. "Erza please come with me. Jellal, he wants to-"

"Jellal?"

Simon nodded, "I was sent here to bring you to him. He wants to use you as a sacrifice."

Alarm bells began sounding in Naruto's head upon learning his goal. 'Man Erza attracts all kinds of lunatics. Looks like Siegrains got some competition,' he grit his teeth, 'and now so do I.'

The blond locked eyes with the one-eyed man in front of him and brandished a kunai.

Alarmed by this action, Erza stepped in front of Naruto and readied her blade. "He's my friend. Let's just talk this out."

"Unfortunately Erza, I cannot allow," he paused and slowly raised his finger to point at Naruto, "him to live."

The duo responded with looks of shock.

Erza slowly directed her stare to the burly mage. "Why?"

"Because Jellal sent him to capture you as well, long before me as a matter of fact."

A look of shock passed over Erza's features before an interrogating gaze followed suit. "He has proven... somewhat trustworthy in the time I've known him. How do I know you aren't lying?"

"Did it never come off as odd that he, Fiore's most wanted criminal, would stick around a light-guild for as long as he did? He was ordered to capture you alive which by extension, likely meant gaining your trust."

'Who the heck is Jellal?' Naruto thought before his confused expression turned into one of guilt.

Erza noticed this and lowered her weapon slightly. "N-Naruto?"

"I-I don't know what he's talking about!" he said in a pitiful attempt to convince her that he was telling the truth. 'Why is it so hard to lie now of all times?'

She could hear the hesitation in his voice. As a result, she was forced to look away, she could no longer make eye contact with him. "You were planning to betray me," she solemnly stated. "So all of this friend nonsense you were talking to me about earlier today was just a way to gain my trust?"

"No, I meant everything I said! I just-"

"Shut up," she said as she tightened her grip on her blade. "Lies won't get you anywhere here." Erza slowly left her position between the two in favor of her own spot, facing the both of them.

'Damnit! I try to do something good for once and it comes back to bite me in the ass!' he thought, enraged. "Look everything I said to you earlier today, I meant all of it... maybe."

His words fell on deaf ears however as Erza swapped out her standard longsword in favor of a massive claymore.

"Erza you don't need to fight me, I just came to warn you."

She didn't trust either of them, however at the moment, she was leaning more towards Simon's side. "Silence! If either of you so much as take a step in my direction, you're going to lose fingers."

"As you wish."

Now thoroughly irritated with the current situation Naruto grit his teeth. "Well if that's the way it's gonna be," Naruto raised his kunai up to eye level, "I guess I'm sticking to the original plan."

* * *

 **Earlier that day.**

"But master-"

Makarov sharply raised his hand to silence her. "No buts, you are to spend one more day in the infirmary."

"I'm feeling fine," Erza protested but to no avail.

"It's for your own good," The guild master said before leaving the infirmary. "I'm just trying to be safe, after all, you did take quite a beating."

In a momentary break from character, Erza groaned loud enough for Makarov to hear and plopped herself back onto the bed. "This is a waste of time!"

* * *

 **Elsewhere...**

Naruto, who was once again trying to find a potent drug to use on Erza, had just exited a pharmacy when an oddity occurred. He was almost skewered by a rather sharp piece of ice. Sensing a new yet familiar presence, Naruto peered in the direction the ice bolt came from and saw Ultear gesturing to him from the roof of a building directly across from him.

"And to think today started out so well," he mumbled.

Ignoring the frightened crowd of onlookers who most likely recognized his face, he crouched slightly and sprang to the top of the roof faster than the eyes of the pedestrians could follow. Upon reaching the rooftop, his eyes immediately darted to Ultear who was leaning against a floating glass orb that was somehow able to support her weight. Her cold smile troubled him.

"You're quite the procrastinator aren't you?"

"Nah I uh... just-"

Ultear crossed her arms and gave him a look.

"Alright, fine I'm a- whatever."

"I'm just here to remind you that you have one more day to capture Erza Scarlet. By now I'm sure she has recovered and do you know what that means?"

The blond brought a finger up to his face and began scratching his cheek "If I don't have her by tonight then Siegrain's gonna come after me? I'm sooooo scared."

"Well that," she stated, her matter of factly tone turning Naruto pale, "it also means that you have effectively made my sacrifice in vain." A sarcastic clap followed her words. "Well done."

Naruto nervously scratched the back of his head. "My bad?"

"Indeed."

Naruto couldn't tell if she was angry or amused. That uncertainty is what frightened him and the fact that she hadn't broken her smile from when she first gestured to him all the way to now made him even more uneasy.

"So what next?"

Surprised by her question Naruto cautiously responded, "What do you mean?"

Ultear shrugged. "Well you must have a solid plan, after all, you did waste six days just sitting around, performing small tasks for Ms. Scarlet." The wizard saint let out a small chuckle before resuming "Or should I say Mrs. Uzumaki?"

Naruto let out a heavy sigh. "So what brought you to that conclusion?"

"You two bicker like a couple and-"

"Wait how do you even know this stuff?"

Slightly annoyed with his interruption Ultear crossed her arms and broke her smile. "Siegrain likes to keep tabs on his associates, especially ones he can't trust."

Having been intimidated by her glare, Naruto gulped and opted not to speak.

"Listen Siegrain is impatient despite the demeanor he presents himself in. Sooner or later he'll replace you."

"So what are you suggesting?"

'This should lead to some fun results.' Ultear grinned. "Well, if I were you in this little dilemma, I would consider betraying him."

"Huh?"

With her grin still intact, she brought her hands up to shoulder level, palms facing upward. "It's only logical, right? He'll most likely send someone after you, right? So why not backstab him before he can do so?"

Before Naruto could speak she continued.

"But that's only a suggestion," she stated before starting towards the man. "Chances are he may have already sent someone to take care of you, he or she could be on their way here now as we speak. Could it perhaps be... me?"

Using a mixture of instincts and reflexes Naruto turned and quickly ducked under a light blue orb that was hurling towards him at high speeds. The blond jumped back and drew a hand full of shuriken.

"You're faster than I thought you were."

"So Siegrain's already trying to get rid of me huh? Can't say he's the first."

"He could have sent me or perhaps I'm acting on my own accord."

"Wha-"

"Let me put it to you this way, I would like to test your strength. If you cannot defeat me then you cannot defeat Siegrain."

"I haven't even decided what I'm going to do ye-" Naruto's line was cut short as Ultear's orb had done a full circle and made contact with the back of his head, dazing him "What the hell is that shit made of?" he asked as he glared at her, "solid concrete?"

"Nope, all glass, magical glass," Ultear said while putting sarcastic emphasis on magical. As Naruto struggled to regain his bearings Ultear seized the opportunity to strike by sending her orb in for another round.

Hearing that familiar break in the wind Naruto reacted by diving off to the side just before the orb embedded itself in the ground, leaving a much larger hole than an object of that size should have made.

"Man, no respect for other peoples property."

"Look who's talking."

Naruto lobbed his handful of shuriken at the mage causing Ultear to brandish a blade made entirely of ice and swat the projectiles out of the air.

"You need to try harder."

Naruto ignored her and made a dash for her position only to once again be intercepted by the glass ball which, this time, hit him in the ribs. Naruto knelt down and held the side of his body in pain, his teeth clenched. As he went to stand he was once again pelted by, not one, but three more blue orbs. Two went into to his torso and one to his face, effectively knocking him flat on his back.

"I think I should just put you out of your misery now," Ultear said as she commanded her orbs to fly into the air with an arm movement. "This is rather disappointing," she said as the orbs ruthlessly began to make contact with his torso one after another, over and over again, "This will finish it." Using a swift flick of her wrist she commanded the glass balls to descend upon Naruto at rapid speeds.

To Ultear's surprise, splinters scattered across the rooftop. Before she could act she felt a cold, sharp blade press against her neck. "Well now, it looks like you have a trick or two up your sleeves."

"Basic academy technique."

"Are you going to kill me now?"

"Well, I would if most of your attacks actually hit my real body."

"Oh aren't you the cocky one?"

"Tch."

"Unfortunately for you, your strength isn't much to note. When Siegrain eventually decides to get rid of you personally, do you honestly believe you can stand up to him?"

Naruto pressed his knife against her throat. 'She's right. If Siegrain comes after me, I'm cooked!'

"I'm still here," Ultear said before smashing the back of her head into Naruto's face causing him to stumble and giving her enough time to cross the rooftop. "Lost in thought?"

"Your head is as hard as one of those glass orbs!"

"Oh I'm hurt," the young woman said with her usual, teasing demeanor. "Well, I'll go ahead and leave you to your thoughts. You should really consider my suggestion."

The blond held his nose in pain. "By betraying Siegrain I'm letting my daughter down. So no."

Ultear grinned at him one last time before her image began to fade out of existence. "Before I go I must ask you, what guarantee do you have that Zeref can revive your daughter or that he's even real?" When she didn't receive a response her lips curled into a legitimate smile. "Oh, little naive Naruto so quick to jump at the first opportunity to revive your little girl."

As Naruto watched her image slowly fade out of existence he couldn't help but wonder. 'Whose side is she on?' Deciding now would be a good time to take a breather, Naruto sat on the ground and tended to his nose. 'She's right though, what guarantee do I have that this Zeref guy can revive her. Is Zeref even real?'

Up until now, he had been desperately clinging to the hope that Zeref could revive his daughter, that the evilest mage of all time would commit such a kind act. Never had he stopped to ask himself if this Zeref character even existed in the first place.

Naruto ran a hand through his hair. 'What now? If Siegrain really did send her to take me out then that means our deal is off, I-I fucked up.'

The blond directed his gaze to the sky. 'Himawari... I fucked up my only chance to bring you back,' tears began to form in his eyes as everything dawned on him at once, 'but now I think the question is, did I ever have a chance to bring you back in the first place?'

As he wondered what to do next he suddenly found himself thinking about his target. He let himself get attached to the young woman and ruined his chance to bring his daughter back, but once again he had to ask himself if that opportunity ever existed.

All of a sudden Erza had become his friend and Siegrain had become his enemy. No longer was Erza his target and it was all because of the unlikeliest person Ultear. She was a mystery neither he or Siegrain would ever solve.

* * *

 **Elsewhere...**

Ultear opened her eyes to find herself staring face to face with Siegrain in his office. "Do you often watch people while they are in a deep trance?"

The blue haired man folded his hands on his desk. "How's his mission going?"

"He says he's got it under control."

"That's... concerning."

"Why?"

"Because the real me has already sent someone to retrieve Erza."

Ultear raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I am concerned for his- my safety. Naruto's chakra is corrupting his-" Siegrain sighed, "my mind."

"And how did this happen?"

"Both mine and the real me's minds are linked by magic. Just to paint a clearer picture, if you could see ethernano, then you could follow the stream straight to my real body. Naruto possesses so much chakra that it's leaked into the stream and has corrupted that link. The way he explains it, every time I meet Naruto the link goes dead for an entire week"

The female wizard brought a finger to her chin. "For you to have gained your own personality, you must have had contact with him constantly."

Siegrain nodded. "I've given him many requests over the years I've known him and have met him in person many times."

"That's, nothing short of amazing."

"What's amazing?"

"The fact that you've become your own person. You're not just Jellal's clone anymore," Ultear stated, somewhat astonished. 'Which likely means my influence is gone from you Siegrain,' she thought. 'What an interesting turn of events. It should be fun to watch how this all plays out.'

"It doesn't change the fact that I am still a clone, created to do the bidding of the original."

"Well, won't this little problem be solved if you two just re-merge for a moment?"

"I've already tried, but upon separating again, I ended up feeling the same before. My guess is Naruto's lingering chakra somehow keeping both mine and Jellal's psyche's sepera-"

"Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?" Ultear chuckled. After a brief silence, Ultear excused herself and walked towards the door. "Well that is something. Tomorrow's the day it all begins so I'll see you then."

As soon as the door closed Siegrain spun his chair around so he faced a large window that provided him a good view of the courtyard at Era. 'Naruto Uzumaki, you truly are something else.' As the young councilor finished this thought he planted elbow on the armrest of his chair and rested his head on his knuckles. 'You've been a loyal soldier thus far and I've put my faith in you. I hope you pull through, I don't want to have to put you down.'

* * *

 **Meanwhile...**

Naruto stared at the small pill in his hands. 'This should work.' He directed his gaze to the infirmary door and took a deep breath. "To be honest, I don't even know if this is the best choice anymore," he said to no one as he opened the door to reveal Erza sharpening her sword with a stone while sporting an angry expression.

"What crawled up your ass and died."

"I'm not it the mood."

"Why?"

Erza shot him a glare. "Do you often delight in creating misery for others?"

"Well yeah. I'm a thief, it's what I do."

Her expression softened into her neutral stare. "For today could you just leave me in silence?"

"No, I wanna know why you're so grumpy."

Erza stopped sharpening her blade and stared at him for a moment before turning her attention to her sword once more. "I am fully recovered yet Master Makarov believes I should spend one last day here in the infirmary."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Uh, am I missing the bad part?"

"That is the bad part."

"Sounds like a vacation to me."

"It sounds like a waste of time to me."

Upon hearing this Naruto approached the redhead and ruffled her hair to which she promptly swatted his arm away. "What are you doing?"

"Well since you're acting like a little kid I'm going to treat you like one."

"I am not a child!" Erza cried, her face red from the mixture of embarrassment and rage.

"Aww isn't that cute! Little Erza's pouting!"

"Do you want me to feed you your teeth?"

"You really are taking this seriously aren't you?"

The redhead set her sword next to her and crossed her arms. "I would just rather be out there doing something that can benefit the guild. The repairs are just about done and our plumbing and electricity is back. Now we just need to get the new building registered with the council, unfortunately, while we were constructing the place, we didn't realize that the size of the building would affect the guild registration price."

"So I'm guessing the price is over the top and crazy expensive?"

She nodded. "If I could go on just one S-class request I would have a decent chunk of the money."

Lazily, Naruto plopped himself on the bed he had since come to consider his own. "You know, you should really learn to relax."

Erza gave a dismissive snort at his suggestion. "Work is how I relax."

"Then get to work."

"Were you not paying attention?"

"I was, but who says you have to follow the old geezer's orders?" the blond questioned, "He's ordering you to go on a vacation which means you can do whatever you want so long as it doesn't involve guild work."

Erza considered his words for a moment, bringing a finger to her chin as she did so. "You may have a point."

Naruto stretched his body while making sure to pop as many joints as he could. After a brief sigh of relief, he responded half-hearted tone, "Get going then."

It was a valid suggestion in her mind, however, the thought of being demoted for disobeying direct orders also came to mind. It didn't seem that far-fetched so she opted to change the subject before things would spiral into a long awkward and uncomfortable silence as their conversations usually did when they were alone. "Have you... ever had a lover?" She had wondered this ever since she heard him utter the name Himawari in his sleep.

"Don't make this awkward."

'Maybe that wasn't the best question to start with,' she mentally scolded herself before continuing, "I heard you mutter the name Himawari in your sleep one night and I assumed-"

"She's my daughter."

Not expecting such a straightforward answer, she hesitantly replied, "Would you mind telling me about her?"

In response, Naruto slid from his relaxed position in favor of sitting straight up and dangling his legs over the side of the bed facing Erza. "Why?"

Her immediate thought was to flat out tell him that she was nosey, but seeing as the honest response wouldn't get her anywhere, she went with a more reasonable answer. "Because I'm... curious?"

"And what are you going to do for me if I tell you about her?"

She pondered on this question for a moment before what she thought was a fair response came to mind, "Whatever you would like me to do, so long as it doesn't involve anything within the realm of pervertedness and illegal activity."

A grin crossed Naruto's features. 'Perfect.'

Naruto crossed his arms and softened his grin into a smile "Fair enough, now sit back and listen.

* * *

 **Done!**


	13. Haunting Memory

**Haunting memory**

 **Snow country, 3 and a half year's ago...**

Neither of the two Uzumaki's could say that they had really spent time in the snow. Naruto personally hated it since he's had a few bad run-ins with snowy weather and his daughter had, up until now, never seen this sort of weather before. As long as Himawari was happy, he was happy, but that didn't mean he would be sticking around in the snow country for any longer than the duration of the day.

Naruto stood, watching his daughter frolic through the snow. She was, to Naruto's memory, the happiest she's ever been since he adopted her. Her smile was contagious, Naruto discovered while watching her play and as such, he grew a happy expression.

"Hey dad!" the girl called out.

"What is it?"

"Come play with me!"

The blond sighed. "You know I hate the snow."

"C'mon!"

"Nah."

The girl puffed her cheeks a bit before sharply turning around, arms crossed.

As Naruto watched this he noticed her point her nose up, which meant only one thing. Himawari was giving him the silent treatment, something he hated with a passion. As the young adoptive father stood, staring at his agitated daughter he decided that the best remedy for this situation would be to do what he figured any father would do.

"Hey, dearest daughter!"

A defiant, "Hmph," escaped her lips. 'Daddy's so mean! I'll hate him forever-' She was suddenly ejected from her thoughts when something cold hit the back of her head causing her to fall face first into the snow. Pushing herself out of the thick layer of snow she quickly turned around only to see a barrage of snowballs heading her way.

With a gasp, she placed her hands on her head and ducked down just in time for a single snowball to graze her jacket.

"What's the matter? You wanted me to play with you right?"

In response Himawari made a snowball of her own and went to throw it only for another icy ball of fun to nail her in the forehead, knocking her back into the snow.

Naruto attempted to follow up with yet another ball only to feel something cold slam into the back of his neck. To his surprise, his daughter exploded in a puff of smoke.

"Got you dad- HEY!" Himawari suddenly found herself in her father's arms, being squeezed tightly.

"When did you learn the shadow clone Jutsu?"

"I learned it from watching you!"

Naruto squeezed tighter. "I'm so proud!"

"Thanks, dad, um sorry for asking since we just got here, but can we go somewhere warm? That Jutsu took a lot outta me."

Rather cold himself, Naruto nodded and set his daughter on his shoulders "Alright then, and you know what just for that I'll quit calling you He- I mean that nickname!"

"Good!' she exclaimed. "Wasn't funny anyway."

"Quit your mumbling up there and keep yourself warm, we're going back to town."

* * *

 **Present...**

"What happened to her real parents?"

Naruto lowered his head "They were dead when I met her."

"How did they die?"

"An illness that had been plaguing their small village ended up taking their lives. She's the sole survivor of that village."

The mage slowly shook her head "That's awful."

"I found her alone, a hungry little three-year-old, wondering about the village, confused as to why her parents wouldn't wake up, why her neighbors wouldn't answer the door and why the village smelled so bad. I don't know how long they were dead, but it's a good thing I came along when I did."

"How did you know a disease killed them."

"I took a look at their bodies after I fed her, no wounds, just a bunch of lumps, dried skin and a pretty terrible smell and plus she told me her parents were sick."

Erza somberly nodded "Sorry for interrupting, continue."

* * *

The Uzumaki family arrived at a small establishment under the name of "The Hearthside Inn" a gimmicky tavern-like building decorated to look like it came straight out of the middle ages. True to its name, there was a single, large, hearth that provided a considerable amount of warmth for the two as well as the guests who lingered around them.

Still exhausted from her usage of the shadow clone technique the little girl eventually fell asleep in the arms of her father.

Naruto had long since come to the realization that yesterday was not only her birthday but the anniversary of the day he met her as well as the anniversary of her parent's death. One of the first things Naruto told her when they met was that her parents had passed away, but this statement had brought about a result that Naruto couldn't have foreseen.

Himawari began to cry but grew a smile at the same time. He remembered what she told him only moments after.

"That's fine. Mommy and Daddy were really sick, but they're in heaven now right?" When he nodded she continued through her tears and sniffling "I wanted to go with them!"

That day he adopted her and assumed the role of her father while originally he wanted to be more of a brother as he was only fourteen at the time, she eventually took to calling him father, dad and eventually daddy.

Not that he minded all that much if it meant saving someone from the lonely life he had to live then he would've gladly assumed the role of her father.

"We got wounded!" the voice of a distressed man brought Naruto out of his thoughts causing him to look over to the source of the voice. The newcomer walked in with a badly injured young man.

A crowd gathered around the injured person, Naruto included. Upon further inspection, he saw that the victim had been stabbed, slashed and burnt, not necessarily in that order.

"Who did this?" the innkeeper asked as she tended to the victim's open wounds.

"It was one of that damn tyrant Doto Kazahana's goons!"

Gasps and whispers followed amongst the crowd.

The innkeeper sighed "That man... can he not be stopped?"

"Excuse me," Naruto interjected, "But who's Dodo Kazahana?"

"Doto, young man and he's the current ruler of the snow country."

"Why not just pay someone to take him out?"

"Young man please do not say such thing's so loud!"

"Yeah, young man don't say such things!" A mocking voice called from the doorway.

All of the guests with the exception of Naruto stepped aside in fear giving the man in the doorway a straight path to Naruto who stood unfazed. With a smirk the newcomer waltzed up to the teen father, his hands buried deep in his pockets and spit on the ground.

Naruto looked at the small puddle in disgust "That's pretty gross."

"Oh, a smart ass eh?"

"Did you do that?" Naruto pointed to the heavily injured young man.

"I did."

"What for?"

"Felt like it."

"Oh so your just an asshole-"

Silence befell the room.

A sour look came across Naruto's features as he massaged his now aching cheek.

"You're my bitch now-" the man was silenced as soon as Naruto's fist came into contact with his belly. He could feel his innards screaming in pain as the blond twisted his fist while applying more and more pressure.

The thug screamed in pain before collapsing to the ground, blood oozing from his mouth.

"Throw another punch tough guy."

"Y-you basta- GAH!"

Naruto stepped on his wrist and dislocated it with his heel.

"C'mon where's the tough guy who mauled an innocent bystander?"

Using what remained of his now fading strength the thug took a deep breath before exhaling fire. Naruto lazily stepped out of the way before planting his foot on the man's face.

"AHH!"

Satisfied, Naruto knelt down and grabbed the man's hair and dragged him over to the crisp and cut up young man "Say sorry."

"F-fuc-" a sickening crunch made everyone in the room wince "STOP PLEASE!"

"Say sorry or you're gonna need prosthetic limbs when I'm threw with you."

"Ok I'm sorry!"

In one swift motion, Naruto broke the man's other leg "Say it to him not me."

"SORRY!"

Naruto grinned before dragging the man out into the raging blizzard and tossing him in a mound of snow. After a fierce round of target practice using snowballs so compact one would think they were solid orbs of ice the young man started back towards the inn.

Upon re-entering the inn he was met with looks of awe and amazement, something that pleased him. At first, he was willing to welcome the attention, but then he saw the look his daughter was giving him.

She was frightened.

"Hey, sorry you had to see that," Naruto said as he walked up to his daughter "Are you ok?"

She shook her head "You didn't have to hurt him so bad! What if he dies out there in the snow?"

"Listen that was completely justified, didn't you see what he did to that guy?"

"I did, but," she sniffed "now you're no better than him!"

Naruto's eyes widened "Oh... I didn't think of that."

Himawari hugged her father "Don't be so cruel next time ok?"

* * *

 **Present...**

"Brutal," Erza said.

"Speak for yourself Red, I've heard the stories of the Fairy Queen Erza Scarlet and have even seen you break your friend's finger just because he was having a little fun."

Erza rolled her eyes "He was acting as an accomplice to your habits."

Naruto snickered "My habits don't involve random assault."

"Just continue."

* * *

The eighteen-year-old was awoken to the sound of breaking glass. He didn't immediately spring into action, exhausted as he was, however, he was sent into full alert when he heard his daughter's cries.

"DAD HELP!"

Naruto sat up just in time to watch a dark figure leap out of his room window and into the raging blizzard outside. Without so much as a second thought, he dove headfirst into the blizzard, barefoot."

"DAD!" Himawari's cries became fainter and fainter as Naruto struggled to keep up through the thick layer of snow. Naruto could already feel the blood freezing in his feet. With each step, he felt as though he were walking on shards of broken glass.

Himawari's cries grew fainter and the silhouette he had been chasing slowly began to vanish.

"DADDY HELP ME!"

How he wished he could call out to her, to assure her that everything would be alright, but he couldn't because he didn't know if the kidnapper knew he was following or not. Naruto thought that if he called out it would cause the kidnapper to panic and make hasty actions.

'Don't worry I'm coming!' he thought before reaching deep into his psyche, into a place he hadn't been to in years.

His mind was as dark and depressing as he had remembered. It surprised him that it was still flooded with water and bearing the appearance of a sewer, after all, he had experienced happy times. Naruto's original assumption was that his mind was only this way because he hadn't been happy for the first few years of his life, now he wasn't so sure.

Having sensed the massive presence behind him he turned, knowing full well what he was about to face, and stared directly at the massive fox behind the bars that kept him locked away.

"Been a long time nine tails."

"Naruto... I thought you'd forgotten about me?" the beast replied.

"Look you know what I need, so let's cut the chatter and-"

"And what makes you think I'll lend you ANY of my power with that attitude?"

Naruto grit his teeth "Because I'll freeze to death out here if you don't!"

The tailed beast snorted "Fine, but if you aren't in a life or death situation then don't even bother talking to me."

In the outside world, a warm red aura began radiating from Naruto's body. The energy gave off a powerful heat, rivaling that of an oven, which melted the surrounding snow within an eight-foot radius. Naruto knelt down and dashed forward, the heat melting any snow in his path.

Naruto had long since lost sight of the man, however, he eventually caught sight of the man. The irate father watched the kidnapper grip his daughters hair and drag her into a run down building before shutting the door behind him.

Enraged, Naruto, now feral in appearance, got on all fours and rocketed through the blizzard and straight into the door. The door came off its hinges and in flew Naruto, ready to pierce straight through the man.

Stunned by the blond's sudden appearance, the kidnapper didn't have enough time to dodge and as a result, Naruto's claws right through his shoulder, effectively setting Himawari free.

"Daddy!" she cried before rushing over to where her father slid to a halt.

"You bastard... DAMNIT MY ARM!"

"Oh, you're gonna lose more than your arm. Wait outside Himawari."

Already knowing what was going to happen the girl dashed for the exit, her eyes focused solely on the door. Upon exiting, she shut the door, closed her eyes and shielded her ears. This, however, did nothing to block out the screams of agony and squelching noises that echoed from the room.

About ten minutes later Naruto emerged from the building without his usual orange and black jacket.

"Dad where's your jacket and why is there blood on your cheek?"

Naruto knelt down and grabbed her by the shoulders "Listen to me, we're going back to the inn, you're getting a good nights rest and first thing tomorrow morning we're catching a ferry out of this shit hole."

The little girl nodded.

"Ok hop on my back."

* * *

 **Present...**

"I should have never taken her to the Snow Country."

Erza gave Naruto a confused look "Why were you guy's there?"

"She's always wanted to see snow and it was her late birthday present."

"I see."

The redhead could tell Naruto didn't want to continue his tale, but she wanted to know what happened to his daughter, however, she couldn't find the appropriate words to get him to continue. It crossed her mind at some point along the story that maybe she should tell him to stop, after all, things had gotten pretty gruesome when Naruto began explaining, in fine detail, how he viciously murdered the kidnapper. At one point she thought about critisizeing him for committing such an act, but then she saw the guilt in his eyes and she opted to remain silent.

"She died."

"What?"

"She's dead, end of the story now drink up." Naruto said before holding up the glass of drugged water.

"Wait, but..."

"Look, I'm, a terrible parent and that's all you need to know, now I've fulfilled my end of the bargain so here!"

Erza gave him a look "Well thank you for sharing your story with me anyway. I suppose I must fulfill my end of our little arrangement."

"No problem. Man it felt good dumping my troubles onto a friend."

The mage grabbed the glass "Friend?"

Naruto cursed "Uh... wait I didn't uh..."

Erza set the glass aside "Do you really consider me as a friend?"

Naruto had to think long and hard what his next answer would be.

"Naruto?"

"Tell me something." he suddenly responded.

"Ok?"

"Am I YOUR friend? Do you consider me as a friend after all that I've done?"

Erza stared dumbfounded before regaining her composure. She began to review the memories she had with Naruto and found that, after a whole month, she surprisingly had quite a few, most of which she found entertaining now that she looked back on it. A smile crept across her face.

"I believe so, as dysfunctional as our current relationship is, we are friends."

How the blond desperately wished she had said no, it would have given him a reason to kidnap her, now he wasn't so sure. His will to seal Erza's fate as a sacrifice was nearly gone at this point. As he went through the memories of his daughter he found himself slowly regaining his will to bring her to Siegrain, however, one memory had outshone all of these. It was a memory he had long since forgotten and the very memory that made him want to do the right thing.

His daughter's dying words.


	14. Last Words

**Last words**

* * *

 **3 years ago...**

Neither Naruto nor Himawari got an ounce of sleep that night. While unable to fully comprehend the situation Himawari knew that they had done something wrong and most likely made some dangerous people angry. Naruto, on the other hand, knew full well that he was going to have entire bands of mercenaries and bounty hunters after him and his daughter from this moment onward, even after they left the Snow Country.

They were going to need a refuge and retreating back to the Fire Country wasn't going to cut it, they were going to have to leave the elemental nations, however, Naruto was unsure of how far Doto's influence had spread.

In his years of traveling, Naruto had visited many countries, journeyed to distant continents and even discovered an island or two. In essence, he had options.

Last night Naruto had sent a clone to investigate this Doto Kazahana. From what he had gathered, Doto had gone toe to toe with one of the hidden leaf's most powerful shinobi and won, effortlessly. Upon further investigation he discovered that some time ago he came across a powerful artifact, a blade made entirely of a special type of stone called a lacrima.

The blade was said to grant the wielder sharp reflexes, immense speed, and overwhelming strength, just by having it sheathed at your side.

This didn't sit well with Naruto who was now more determined than ever to escape the snow country.

The morning came at an alarmingly slow rate for the Uzumaki family who immediately jumped at the opportunity to leave as soon as the blizzard cleared up.

Cautiously, the duo traversed the thick mounds of snow on route to the shore where a small port city had been established. At this point, Naruto had already decided that the only way to escape the power of Doto Kazahana was to travel to the other side of the globe.

Fiore, a country apart of the much larger mage continent of Ishgar came to mind. Luckily for the two, the ferry they were hitching a ride on was on route to Fiore, as Naruto discovered the night before, all they had to do was sneak on board and hide out amongst the cargo until they arrived.

"Daddy," the little girl said. "My legs are tired."

Naruto gave the girl a look of sympathy. "Sorry, you can ride on my back now if you want."

"Ok."

Naruto knelt down and allowed the girl to climb on his back.

"Dad, is everything going to be ok?"

"You let your dad worry about these things ok?"

"What about that man you-" Himawari paused, choked up by the thought. She couldn't even bear the thought of associating the kind fatherly figure she had known for four years with murder. As a result, she began to sob "He was a bad man, does that mean other bad men will try and-"

"I won't let them."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

 **Later...**

Not even an hour later a fierce blizzard rolled in. Luckily for the young family, the port city was in sight, as was the ferry.

"Dad."

"Yes?"

"It's so... c-cold."

The ninja sighed. "I know it is, just hang tight we're almost there."

"Is t-there f-food on board?"

"I'm sure there is. I'll snatch whatever you want once we're safely inside the ship."

Himawari giggled. "You're s-such a dirty th-thief dad!"

The blond grinned. "Yup, your old man's the best there ever wa-" Naruto halted his march. His eyes immediately began to scan the surroundings, which notably wasn't much considering the intensity of the blizzard had clouded most of his vision "Listen to me Himawari. Do not let go until I say so."

The little girl nodded.

All at once six clouds of smoke erupted from the snow and out popped six men, their blades aimed to pierce through his body. The attackers silently charged their target with such speed that any normal man would have been dead on the spot.

Naruto, however, wasn't a normal man, as he proved to them by ducking under all six blades. "Himawari drop to the ground!" he cried. As soon as Himawari complied Naruto jumped up and performed a roundhouse kick, knocking out five of the six in the process.

The sixth attacker stared dumbfounded, a mistake that cost him his teeth.

Scooping Himawari into his arms Naruto made a mad dash for the city, his adrenaline giving him the ability to ignore the blizzard that raged around him. A slight break in the wind followed by a whizzing noise caught his attention. Instinctively the blond ducked just in time to avoid being skewered by nails the size of rail spikes.

'That's a big ass nail!' A volley of nails came whizzing by him soon after he thought this 'I can't dodge this!' were his thoughts before one spike was speared through his left leg. Naruto fell to the ground, dropping his daughter in the process before immediately going to work on ripping out the spike, seemingly oblivious to the pain.

"Daddy you're hurt!"

"No time to worry about that," he said before gripping the nail tightly and giving it a fierce tug. "C'MON!"

With a sickening squelch, the nail was removed. Himawari had to restrain herself from vomiting as bits of flesh were left behind on the projectiles surface. Snow had already begun to pile inside of the hole left by the spike, this was a sight that made her nauseous.

 **'Why are you always in these situations!'** the voice of the Nine-tails boomed within his mind. **'You can't go a day without trying to get yourself, and by extension me, killed!'**

'Just hurry up and fix my leg and I'll... uh... get to work on making that cage bigger!'

 **'Fair trade.'**

Before Himawari could say anything the wound had begun to close, the flesh reforming until his leg was in pristine condition. Not having any time to feel relieved Naruto dove forward and grabbed Himawari just in time to avoid the hailstorm of metal. Rising to his feet the blond continued his run, now completely revitalized by the power of the nine tails.

His pursuers halted their attack, frightened by the evil force their target began to radiate. This moment of rest didn't last long however as they quickly resumed their pursuit, although at a slightly greater distance than before.

 **'Just kill them and be done with it!'**

'Not with Himawari around!'

 **'You fool! If you even care about your daughter's safety then you will kill those men unless you WANT to see her impaled! You will receive no aid from me in that case!'**

Knowing full well that this chase would resume until someone died Naruto stopped and set Himawari down.

The men following him froze, not wanting to get near the blond.

"Himawari. Hide under the snow."

"Why?"

"Just listen to me! Cover your ears and don't look!"

A horrified expression crossed Himawari's features. Naruto had never yelled at her like that before and she had a pretty good idea what was about to go down. Tear's formed in her eyes as she began "NO DAD! Don't k- ki... don't do that to them!"

"Do as I say this instant!"

Tearfully, the girl lay in the snow and began sobbing. The sound of her tears broke Naruto's heart, but he knew that if they ever wanted to live to see tomorrow then he would have to take the lives of the ten men that stood before him.

Naruto's claws sharpened and he dashed forward, appearing amongst his pursuer's ranks almost instantaneously. Unable to react in time, four of the ten men were quickly dispatched by a fatal claw strikes to their throats. Two of the men attempted to gain some distance but were quickly dealt with by red chakra tendrils that shot out of Naruto's body. The remaining men went to attack the feral beast that stood before them only to be halted by an eardrum-shattering roar.

The immobilized men met their swift ends at Naruto's furious and wild claw swipes.

All ten men lay dead in the snow, a sight that made Naruto bow his head in guilt. Knowing that now wasn't a good time to feel sorry for himself he rushed over to where his daughter should have been laying only to see her standing, wide-eyed.

"H-Himawari." he managed to stutter out as his appearance became normal once more, "I told you not to look!"

The little girl couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. This kind and fair fatherly figure she had been raised by had just effortlessly slaughtered ten men. She could no longer bear to see her father's blood-streaked face so as a result she turned and attempted to run only to run face first into a tall figure. Frightened the girl began to take steps back until she could get a good look at the man's face.

His lips and nose were large and his head jar shaped. The newcomer stared at the girl with a wide grin before reaching forward with his large arms and grabbing her by the hair.

Himawari let out a scream before she was silenced by the man's beefy hand.

Slowly the man brandished the blade that rested at his side.

"Himawari!" Naruto cried out while holding one of the nails. "You bastard let her go!"

The man's grin grew even wider. "I don't think I will."

"You son of a-" Naruto couldn't continue as he was silenced by a blue bolt of energy that impacted with his stomach sending him back ten feet and onto the ground.

The man stood, a blue, rigid blade that looked to have been sculpted out of a rock of the same color, in hand, The tip was aimed forward and smoking.

"Now you must feel pain."

Naruto could barely hear a word the man said, however, his ears picked up on the word pain immediately sending him into a rage. "Get away from my daughter!" Naruto cried once again imbued with the power of the nine tails.

Like before he was sent flying by the same blue bolt.

"Who are you?" Naruto struggled to say as he attempted to stand.

"Me? Only the man whose son you murdered."

The blond's eyes widened as the memory of the deed bombarded his mind. "W-what?"

"Let me put it this way, I HAD NOTHING LEFT TO BURY!"'

The shock was prominent on Naruto's face as he struggled to find the words to respond.

"D-dad please help me!" the little girl called out before she was silenced by a violent tug.

"Does Doto Kazahana sound familiar to you?"

"You're..."

"I am." he said before firing an orb of blue energy directly at Naruto causing him to fall face first into the snow.

No longer could he feel his body, nor could be move anything but his neck. With all of his strength, he turned his head to look at Doto who now stood, holding Himawari in front of him by her hair and with his blade pressed behind her back.

Naruto stared in horror at what was about to occur as he let out a plea "No stop please!"

"Please? How many times did MY son beg for you to stop!"

Himawari began to cry, her tears slowly solidifying on her cheeks from the blizzard.

"DAMNIT WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Naruto said as tears of his own began to form.

"What do I want?" Doto began "I want you to suffer as I AM SUFFERING!" With that, he plunged the blade through Himawari's back until the hilt stopped him from pushing any further.

Retracting the blade, Doto pushed the girl forward with his free hand and grinned once more before chuckling, until his chuckles became full-blown laughter.

A blank stare dominated Himawari's features as she fell forward into the thick mounds of snow "D-daddy." she uttered as she made eye contact with her father before her face became buried by the snow.

All of Naruto's breath had been taken with this act, he could no longer speak, only stare. His mind, however, ran rampant with rage and sorrow. The only words that came to mind were words involving the vicious slaughter of the man in front of him, courtesy of the nine tails who had seized this golden opportunity to escape.

Maul, slaughter, decapitate, mutilate etc. These words in the form of demonic whispers roamed Naruto's mind. It was only when Doto began to kick his precious daughter did he snap.

A dark red beam of energy shot into the sky, splitting the clouds overhead apart and dissipating the blizzard momentarily.

Doto looked up from his sadistic activity and lost his grin. Suddenly, fear was the only thing that came to mind as he stared at the red, six-tailed creature that stood before him. Adding to its intimidating appearance, bones formed around the creatures head and front limbs; and it's spine lay exposed on it's back.

With a mighty roar, the beast that was once Naruto let out an earth-shaking roar that dissipated the blizzard once again, this time for good.

"What is that monster," Doto muttered to himself as brandished his sword. Carelessly stepping on Himawari's prone form he approached the creature, who as it would seem didn't take to kindly to such an act "Die foul beast!" he cried as a barrage of blue energy left the blade.

The six tailed beast countered by shooting a volley of chakra out of its mouth causing an explosion to form where the two attacks met. A cloud of smoke was left in its wake.

Unsure of the result Doto stepped forward only to instantly regret that decision when a massive red hand came flying out of the smoke, grabbing him and lifting him high into the sky. When Naruto deemed him necessarily high enough he brought him back down to the earth leaving a crater. The sheer force of the impact was enough to force the surrounding snow to fly in all directions, exposing the bare dirt beneath their feet and creating massive snow mounds.

Miraculously having survived this endeavor Doto stood up and tightly gripped his sword "I WILL NOT FALL TO YOU!" he shouted before launching a much massive blue orb at the jinchuriki.

Naruto narrowed one of his now white, pupilless eyes and launched a punch at the orb sending it back to its creator.

Doto's eyes widened as he watched his own attack get used against him. Once again tightly gripping the sword he steadied his nerves and at the very last minute... moved.

The orb exploded with the same amount power as the jinchuriki's roar and bore a similar result. Naruto went unfazed by this, his animalistic mind now focused entirely on the sword.

The six tailed creature had watched the man move and compared his speed to his own. He was fast, the blue object in his hands made him fast, the blue object in his hands gave him power, the blue object in his hands needed to go away, Naruto's primal mind had concluded.

Doto materialized behind Naruto and went to strike only to watch in horror as the beast had spun faster than he could react and grabbed his arm.

The tyrannical man screamed in pain as his arm was seared off, the wound now cauterized by the intense heat the energy gave off. Doto fell to the ground screaming in agony as he watched the fox like creature grip the blade with both hands and snap it in half with little to no effort.

With that, all of Doto's hope died.

Naruto made short work of the man that lay before him, his body now just a pile of flesh when he was through with him. When the deed was done the jinchuriki turned his gaze to the sky and let out a roar.

The nine tails grinned in anticipation at the thought of freedom. His escape was nearly at hand however he couldn't help but feel something wrong. Before he had a chance to ponder this potential omen he was blinded by a bright yellow light.

The nine tails reared back in response to the sudden flash and suddenly he once again found himself behind bars. Overcoming the initial confusion, he studied the bars for a moment before throwing an enraged flurry of strikes at the bars, unfortunately for him, the gate now seemed to be even sturdier than before.

 **"NO! What happened!"** the fox cried out. **"DAMN THESE INFERNAL BARS!"**

Utterly clueless as to what had just occurred the Nine-tails began to rampage in his prison, shaking Naruto's mind as he did so.

* * *

Outside Naruto had just pushed himself out of the snow, his body now back to normal. He felt completely revitalized, as if what he had just woken up from a much-needed nap. Considering what just happened he was surprised that he wasn't out of commission.

He would have to figure out what happened later, right now he had a more pressing issue to attend to.

"Himawari!" he cried as he scanned the area until he spotted his daughter laying on her back on the exposed dirt. The battle had tossed her body around quite a bit, he deduced, however, he couldn't feel guilty now, he had to see if she was alright.

With a false dose of optimism, the blond rushed to his daughter's side and got on his knees. "Hey wake up," he said to her as he turned the girl onto her back. "C'mon you're still kicking I know it! I can sense it!"

The girl began to stir until her eyes opened slightly. "D-daddy?"

Tears filled Naruto's eyes as he embraced her, eliciting a pained groan from the little girl.

"S-sorry," Naruto muttered weakly "It's gonna be ok! I promised to remember?"

"Daddy... I'm scared."

"Just relax and don't close your eyes!"

"I'm really tired dad... the pain will go away when I sleep. You always said you heal faster when you sleep."

Naruto got choked up at the nostalgia. "I-I know but this times different, just stay awake until I can get you somewhere safe."

"My real mommy... she's waving at me and so is my real dad." Himawari coughed up blood, her eyes slowly beginning to close once more.

"I'm your real dad!" he said as whatever tears he had hopelessly fought to restrain came rushing out.

"I'm glad you were my daddy..."

"I'm still your dad!"

With what was left of her strength Himawari formed a smile. "I don't want you to be sad, please don't change because of me."

"Stop talking like you're eighty!"

Now too weak to smile Himawari closed her eyes. "Y-you're still funny. T-thanks for being my-" Word by word the girls voice faded. She never finished her final sentence.

In that moment, Naruto became a broken man, his pride, and joy having been ripped from the face of the earth all because of him. All that he could think to do now was grieve and hopelessly wish his daughter would miraculously wake up.

* * *

 **Present...**

"I broke that promise to you darling," the thief muttered to himself. "What am I doing?" he asked, as if suddenly having woken up from a long, drawn-out trance. Everything he had done, it all came back to him, the memories of his misdeeds and wrongdoings hitting him like a sack of bricks.

"Naruto?"

Erza's voice brought him out of his stupor "Uh right... um, don't drink that ok?"

"Wh-"

"Don't question it just-" Naruto stopped and took a good long look at the ground before sighing and making eye contact with the redhead. "Do whatever it is you do ok? I need to think."

Erza couldn't bring herself to point out the fact that he was crying nor did she wish to ask.

"As you wish. I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah."

With that, Naruto left the room through one of the windows.

* * *

Naruto soon found himself on the outskirts of Magnolia resting against a tree. It didn't take long until he found himself conflicted once more. Himawari's last request was now fresh in his mind once again, sadly, the fact he had utterly ignored that request was there as well.

He had always been a thief, it was how he survived. What he wasn't was a liar, in fact, he was brutally honest before the incident, he wasn't a drinker, but that changed when his daughter was ripped away from him.

He had long since given up drinking in favor of excessive thievery to keep his mind off of things.

Lastly, he wasn't a villain, but with his intentions being the way they were he wasn't so sure anymore. Now he most certainly was no hero.

At the moment, Naruto teetered on the fine line between taking the chance to see his daughter again or sparing the life of the one he had come to call friend. Currently, he was leaning more towards the latter choice.

Naruto began to laugh. "Fuck my life." he joked to himself before taking a deep breath. "Maybe I should rethink this whole 'Money is worthless' mindset of mine. All of those other thieves seem to think otherwise."

Just then he felt a presence lurking amidst the trees. Now to lazy to get up he called out, "Hey you over there I know I'm sexy and all, but I'm not exactly comfortable with stalkers... unless you're a cute chick- wait no! Even then you ought to have some manners!"

A muscular young man stepped out from behind the tree across from him. "Naruto Uzumaki."

"Eww gross you most certainly aren't female... unless my eyes are playing tricks on me I'm sure woman have long hair and soft mounds on their chests."

"You really are a piece of work. Jellal was right, you are interesting."

Naruto gagged, thoroughly creeped out by this response. "Look, buddy, I'm not into your gay threesome dream. I'm straight."

The man responded by rushing forward and throwing a heavy punch which left a crater in the ground where the blond once sat.

"Whew! You had me going there for a second. I thought you were actually into... you know... dudes."

Silently the attacker turned to face his target and readied his fists.

"Oh, a bounty hunter eh?"

"Not exactly."

Naruto grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Heh this is just what I need to get my mind off things."

* * *

 **As usual, I hope you enjoyed.**

 **Later...**


	15. Faltering Ambition

**Faltering Ambition**

Naruto stood over the unconscious bodies of Erza and Simon with an aura of guilt around him. It wasn't often that he got to fight, but when he did it usually ended in an accidental death or significant loss. He held back on this one. Now it was all a matter of lugging the red head to Siegrain, all the way to the shoreline where he would take her to god knows where.

One thing was certain, Naruto had a conscience! Big shocker. And now he hated himself for it. Of course, he was going to have to steel himself for the long road trip with an unconscious, attractive woman he potentially harbored feelings for, knowing that he was sending her to her death, but whatever, right? He was a cruel person.

"Whelp, you're coming with me Red." Naruto muttered as he slung the young woman over his shoulders, taking in her scent as he did so. "Ahh! Pomegranate!"

Despite his demeanor, he was torn inside, it truly hurt him to do this but he would never admit such a thing. He was Naruto Uzumaki, world's greatest thief, known to some as a scumbag and known to the ladies of water country as that one handsome devil.

At least, in his own little world.

Moments after he began to leave the clearing, which was now wrought with craters and cracks lining the surface and enough fallen trees to build a house, the man with the metal face mask groaned in pain.

Naruto considered finishing off the man right then and there. It would save him the trouble considering the fact that this man likely knew where he was heading and he put up one hell of a fight. Although most of his wounds are from Erza, he got a few hits in here and there. His black eye was an example.

"S-stop," the man cried out as he attempted to stand only for the pain caused by the large gash in his stomach to bring him back down into the dirt.

"Whats in it for me?"

Simon couldn't reply, only stare as he watched the blond walk away with the one he loved.

"Nothing? Not even a single jewel? C'mon man throw me a bone here."

"Y-you're a heartless monster. You know exactly what Jellal is planning and yet you still wish to go through with this?"

"I don't know who the hell this Jellal person is. I've told you this like six times and yes I do want to go through with this," Naruto said, his voice growing fainter. _'This is for my daughter.'_

"Get back here!" Simon dashed forward with a remarkable burst of energy, but it was all for naught as he was met halfway by Naruto's fist, sending him back into the ground.

"You just don't get it, do you? There's nothing you can do to change my mind," Naruto said as he resumed his walk. "And maybe I am a monster and I want to keep it that way. It helps make everything I do easier."

"E-Erza-" was Simons last word before he fell unconscious.

* * *

Siegrain had been waiting for five hours and it had already been two hours past the deadline. He wanted to believe that his friend would pull through and that whatever drove him to commit crimes so religiously would come through and he would drop all mercy and just do it.

Even Siegrain was having second thoughts on the matter. Jellal... he, himself, they were truly mad if they believed that resurrecting a long dead mage of astonishing evil power was a good idea. What could he do? He was simply a thought projection and if he harmed himself in any way shape or form he would feel that pain times ten.

Just as Siegrain had given up hope he heard rustling in the bushes. A look of relief replaced a look of confusion as Naruto emerged from the bushes with Erza slung over his shoulder.

Wordlessly Naruto set her in the sand in front of Siegrain.

Siegrain smiled, "Now we wait for..."

"You wanna tell me why some thug attacked me? Who else is after her?"

The blue haired counselor sighed. "He was sent by Jellal, my brother."

"Brother? Whatever, I wanna know why he sent him."

"I cannot explain until he arrives, for now, we just wait until he gets here."

"I want answers, now. I want to know why I had to hurt my friend, what this plan is and WHO I'm working for."

Siegrain began to sweat. "If you want to know then you have to-"

"Damnit Seig! What the hell am I even doing this for? Can this bastard really bring my daughter back!"

"Just be silent and listen!"

Naruto was surprised by this. Never had he heard Siegrains voice go anywhere above his usual low tone. He had thought, up until now, that Siegrain was incapable of shouting.

"Erza will be the vessel for Zeref, Zeref will bring your daughter back and that's that! There's nothing more to this! You've been a loyal serve- friend thus far and your efforts will be rewarded." With that Siegrain turned his attention to Erza, having calmed down he returned to his usual low voice. "You were taken with her it seems? Are you feeling guilty?"

Naruto frowned. "I was- I am interested in her, maybe I even like her. She's the first and only person that's managed to weave her way through this black piece of shit I call a heart in years so of course, I'm feeling guilty right now."

Siegrain thought for a moment before speaking. "I would be lying if I said I didn't fall for her myself. She has a certain air about her that either charms men or strikes fear into their hearts," he stated with a chuckle. "It seems we are of the former."

"I know you have a history with her. Somehow I get the feeling that you didn't just write a bunch of names on slips of paper, drop em in a hat and draw one at random."

"Right. I've known her for years, ever since we were slaves."

"Slaves?"

"It's a long story."

"I've got time."

"But he doesn't," Siegrain said as he slowly raised his arm to point, seemingly at Naruto.

Confused Naruto turned around only to find... Siegrain? Naruto did a double take between the two, confused as to what was going on until he realized, 'They're twins?'

Jellal grinned. "Excellent work Naru-" Naruto was already in front of him, one hand gripping his collar tightly. "You're quite violent."

"Naruto!"

Wordlessly, Naruto lets go of Jellal's collar and backed off.

"Calm down," Siegrain demanded.

"Good dog," Jellal mocked with a sinister smile.

"I'm about two seconds away from tearing you in two. I want answers now!"

"That's the way you're going to play it? Demand answers out of me like a child demanding a toy from his mother? Fine." Jellal cracked his neck before continuing. "I plan to use this woman as a vessel to revive lord Zeref under our control. With him in service only to myself, I will bring order to this world, shape it in my image and rule with an iron fist. That is my pla-"

"Fuck your plan, I want to know why you need Erza specifically."

Jellal exchanged glances with himself before turning back to Naruto. "I see you've fallen for her just like Simon. To be honest there is no real reason other than my history with her that I chose her for this. After all, there are plenty of other, stronger, mages out there, I just figured this would be more interesting."

Siegrain could see Naruto's fists tighten to the point where his nails were digging into his skin "Naruto-" Siegrain began only to be silenced when Naruto's hand shot up.

"Save it. As soon as I can hold my daughter in my arms again, I want nothing to do with either of you-" a sharp pain in his lower back cut him off and brought him to his knees. The blow delivered by Jellal, he figured, rendered him immobile.

Jellal frowned and knelt down beside the blond. "Unfortunately there is no place for you in my new world. You could actually pose a threat after all."

"Hold on."

Jellal shot his thought projection a glare. "You are me, you share my ideals, we are clones of one another so tell me why your opinion on this man is so vastly different from mine?"

"Because he's loyal, he doesn't deserve this."

"Was it not you who suggested we betray him, that we end him as soon as we were through with him?"

"That was back then, but he has proven to be a valuable asset."

The blue haired mage shrugged before delivering a vicious kick to Naruto's temple. A sickening crack followed this action causing Siegrain to tense up. The kick had forced Naruto's neck back with such extreme force that it broke his neck.

"You didn't have to kill him."

"Don't forget your duty," Jellal said before hoisting Erza onto his shoulder.

"I won't."

On that note the duo went their separate ways, Siegrain going inland and Jellal, across the sea.

* * *

Erza awoke in the infirmary once again. Only this time she was met with the relieved looks of her friends. Before she could utter a word she was bombarded with hugs and tears.

Mirajane, among one of those both hugging and crying, spoke first "WAH! You've were out for two days!"

"We thought you weren't going to wake up," Gray said, expressing his relief with a smile.

"What happened?"

Cana crossed her arms before taking a seat on the bed "We found you in a thrashed forest clearing not too far from where we found the big guy over there."

Erza turned her head to see beyond her friends and spotted Simon sleeping in an infirmary bed beside hers. "Will he be alright?"

"He will, although he was in an even worse condition than yours when we found you, he'll live." Cana frowned. "However, it looks like he pushed himself way too far during whatever event that put him in that state. Master says there's a high chance he'll never be able to use magic of any sort again."

The redhead sighed before changing her relieved expression into a pained and disheartened one. "It was Naruto."

Upon hearing this Natsu flew into a rage "I knew we couldn't trust that bastard! Where the hell is he? I promise Erza I'll drag that asshole here if I have to!"

"No."

"What-"

"No. Don't go after him."

Makarov, who had just entered the room gained a curious look. "And why not Erza? He put you in this state and potentially crippled what I am assuming was your friend."

"I know he did, but the fact that I'm here and not with..."

"Erza?" the aged guild master said.

"What did I miss in the last two days."

"Well," Mirajane began. "Not much as a matter of fact, it was only recently however that the council started making a huge fuss about using the Etherion Canon. Rumor has it that they're planning on firing it upon something known as the R-system."

Erza's eyes widened. "W-what?"

"Any idea what that is?"

Without a word and lacking hesitation, she jumped out of bed and started towards the door. "I'll be back."

"Erza!" Makarov cried. "You need rest! If there's something that needs to be done then let us know."

"I cannot, this is something I must do alone."

"You aren't planning on going to the R-system are you?" Mirajane asked, concern evident on not only her face but the faces of all in the room.

"No, I am going to see the council," Erza stated as she equipped her heavens wheel armor.

"Erza no-" Mirajane began, but it was too late. Erza had already shot through the roof, leaving a large hole in the infirmary.

At the same time, Lucy was walking in when this occurred and the sheer shock of it all caused her to fall flat on her rear. "USE THE DOOR!" she cried.

Natsu sighed. "Aww... I literally just fixed that!"

* * *

Meanwhile, as Erza was soaring through the air she got to thinking. What were Naruto's motives now? Simon spoke of a plot to capture her orchestrated by Jellal and that Naruto was merely a pawn. The fact that Naruto spared her had to mean that she meant something to him, that Naruto thought of her as something more than an acquaintance or as his objective.

He was no longer the same cold-hearted thief she met in Hargeon.

Something told her that she had graduated from the acquaintance status. What she meant to Naruto now, however, was still a mystery for the time being.

* * *

 **Things are gonna go by a little quicker now. Truth be told I kinda condensed two chapters into one and skipped another entirely. Hopefully, that isn't a problem. One last thing. Once the stories finished I'll be re-writing the chapters instead of re-writing the story. I may turn the rewrite of this story may be something different entirely.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Later...**


	16. Turning a New Leaf

**Warning: This is probably the most fast-paced chapter I've ever written so if you don't like it then here's your apology**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Turning A New Leaf**

 **Tower of Heaven, Torture Chamber**

The room Naruto was situated in was pitch dark for the most part aside from the lone light bulb illuminating the space around him. Currently, he was fastened to a wooden chair by chains, ropes, wires and just about everything one would use to restrain someone. Naruto was sure that there was some barbed wire mixed in there too.

This predicament was to be expected, after all, he had fooled Jellal and Siegrain into thinking he was Erza and that Jellals, in Naruto's humble opinion, weak ass kick had killed him. When Jellal found out about his treachery he sentenced Naruto to a torture session where the ultimate result would be death. Currently, he was a little more than an entire day in and Naruto had shown no signs of letting up.

"Ready for the chain?" one guard asked.

"Not really, but you're gonna do it anyway aren't you?"

"You're lucky we aren't allowed to kill you!"

"Aren't allowed? Or can't? Because if I remember correctly, That blue-haired asshole specifically asked for you guys to eventually KILL me. Dick."

The guard became red-faced "Y-you-" the guard cut his own sentence off, grabbed a knife and went for the neck only for the knife to snap upon contact.

"BWAHAHA! Trying to kill me with a flimsy ass knife again? Lemmie tell you if it didn't work the first time what makes you think it'll work a second time?"

"Shut up!"

Naruto yawned. "Ok I'm ready for my chain treatment now."

"I'll show you a chain treatment!" the guard gripped the handle at the end of a six-foot long chain link and swung only for that too to shatter upon contact.

"You aren't one of the bright ones are you?"

Jellal stood in the shadows of the room, watching in annoyance. He began pinching the bridge of his nose as he turned to the guard beside him who was watching in astonishment. "I give you one task. Torture him a bit AND THEN KILL HIM!"

"S-sir! Everything we try either breaks or backfires! We've had more casualties in these last two hours then in the years we were building the tower!"

Jellal turned his attention to the mound of bodies that lay in the darkness on the other side of the room. "Get rid of those. They smell awful."

"HEY JELLAL! YOU IN HERE?" Naruto cried.

"Nope." he responded.

"What now sir?"

"Well... now that I think about it, we no longer have a vessel, Erza is now out of reach and he's the only one here possessing a significant amount of power other than myself and is very much capable of being a vessel. Bring him to the top of the tower as soon possible. I'm getting desperate."

"Sir!" a guard cried.

"What is it?"

"T-the prisoner bit off my finger!"

"Well that is unfortunate now is it," Jellal said before exiting the room.

"HEY YOU BLUE HAIRED BASTARD! GET BACK HERE AND RELEASE ME!" Naruto cried but to no avail. Suddenly he heard thundering footsteps approach him until a large man stepped into the light before him, cracking his knuckles in an intimidating manner.

Naruto raised an eyebrow "Are you guys still trying to kill me?"

"Me crush."

"No, no. Say 'I will crush you'."

"ME SMASH!" the man cocked his fist back and shot it forward at high speeds. It made contact with Naruto's nose and a sickening crack resounded throughout the room. The large man cradled his hand in pain and darted out of the room leaving a trail of tears in his wake.

"I almost feel bad for him," Naruto stated.

"What the hell!" one guard cried. "We've tried burning, decapitation, drowning, beating... why won't you die!"

The abused blond shrugged. "If you untie me I'll tell you how to kill me."

"MEN DO AS HE SAYS!"

"B-but sir!" one of the more rational guards cried.

"Just do it!"

Reluctantly, the men undid all of Naruto's bindings.

"Thanks, guys!" Naruto said, stretching his limbs as he did so. "Now come close so I can tell you my secret." the guard complied and leant Naruto "Body swap techniques can go along way." Before the guards could react, Naruto's body disappeared, replaced with a giant block of solid lead. Just then, the lights went out.

On the outside, passing by guards had gathered around the door to the room and began pressing their ears against the door the moment they started hearing screams. At the moment, just about all of them were a little apprehensive about going in, hell most of them didn't even want to touch the knob.

"Should we go in?"

"I would but..."

"Rumor has it that the guy in there is invulnerable to just about everything."

Suddenly the door flew off its hinges with so much force that the surrounding guards were thrown back. Naruto exited the room, stretching his limbs the moment he stepped into the Hallway. After he was finished cracking just about everything that needed to be cracked, limbs and all, he started down the hallway in a random direction.

About midway down the hall, he heard. "Stop him!" come from both ends of the hallway. Not seeing any escape, in particular, he figured he'd just wait this one out. Both guard parties had surrounded him in seconds.

"We've got you surrounded!"

"There's nowhere to run!"

Naruto observed both parties before he had an idea.

"Boss he's grinning!"

"Its just a scare tactic, we're in control here!"

Naruto glared at the guards in front of him "Looks like I have no choice." the blond said just as the air grew colder.

"B-boss when did we get climate change runes in the tower!"

"W-we didn't."

"I'll just have to use my magic."

The guards all simultaneously dropped their weapons save for the leader.

"Men re-arm yourselves!"

The sounds of a storm rang throughout the hallways followed by the screams of what could only be described as the damned, freezing each guard in place.

"You." Naruto pointed to the head guard. "Are you ready to die?"

The leader was to terrified to move, however, he did mutter something that Naruto couldn't quite catch.

"Hmm?"

"I said spare me! Take them! Leave me alone!"

"BOSS!" they all cried.

"Prepare to die," Naruto said as he cocked his fist back. "Any last words?"

"IM SORRY!"

"Good." And just like that the weather went back to normal confusing just about everyone else in the area.

The leader looked up from his cowering form, relieved that he was going to be shown mercy only for Naruto to sock him square in the nose, sending him flying into the crowd of guards in front of him. While the guards were still in shock Naruto seized this opportunity to pass up the guards and dart down the hallway.

"You guys are a bunch of dumbasses, all brawn, and no brains!"

"Men grab your weapons and kill him!"

"Come on gimme a break!"

* * *

 **Council Chamber, Entrance**

Erza arrived at the council chambers just in time to catch Siegrain before he could enter the chambers, much to his shock. For the past couple of minutes, the two had stared intently at one another, unsure of what to do or how to react. Siegrain broke the silence with a cough, unfortunately, Erza also coughed making the situation even more awkward.

"Bless you- I mean..."

"N-no bless you!"

Siegrain sighed heavily. "What are you doing here Erza... how are you here?"

"Naruto."

"I see. Then It would appear our mutual friend is smarter than I thought."

After another round of awkward silence, Erza spoke up "Why?"

"If you are referring to why we had sent Naruto to capture you then... even I don't know anymore why we chose you in particular."

"Jellal didn't inform you-"

"That's... another thing. I am Jellal or at least his thought projection." Seeing her confused expression he continued. "Why am I telling you this? Because our mutual friend has had more of an impact on myself than I thought. As such I am beginning to have second thoughts on this dream of ours."

Erza narrowed her eyes. "Why are you trying to destroy the R-system?"

* * *

 **Tower of Heaven**

It took little to no effort to dispose of the guards pursuing him mostly because he picked them off one by one and at one point he even made a game on it. As soon as he got rid of the last guard a young, dark-skinned, blond young man entered the area and began attacking him without hesitation.

"You killed Simon!" the dark-skinned young man cried as he flung projectiles shaped like cards at Naruto.

Naruto had dodged the cards narrowly by rolling out of the way, however, one of the cards had managed to graze his clothing, tearing it slightly.

'Sharp,' he thought.

"I won't miss this time!" he shouted.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I didn't kill anyone!"

"Liar!"

Just then Naruto felt something zap his arm, immobilizing him just long enough for a single card to embed itself into his leg. Naruto let out a pained howl before he toppled over in pain. "Damnit!"

"Nice work Wally."

"I could say the same for you Sho, now do you want to finish him or should I?"

"I didn't kill your friend!"

"Well, he never came back! What are we supposed to think?" the dark skinned young man asked, "Prove me wrong!"

As soon as the feeling in his legs came back Naruto lunged towards Sho, kunai in hand. Before Wally could react Naruto already had his arm around Sho's neck and a kunai pressed against his throat.

"I don't want to fight you two! My beef is with Jellal."

"Let him go!" Wally cried, his arm having taken the form of a gun.

"Drop your gun!"

"Just shoot through me!"

Naruto stared at his fellow blond, mouth agape. "Are you freaking crazy!"

"Do it Wally."

Suddenly Naruto shoved the young man to the ground so abruptly that Sho was caught off guard. "You're Crazy! Sorry but I've got places to be and shit to steal!" With that, Naruto took off in the opposite direction.

"He's getting away!" Sho exclaimed as he and Wally chased after him.

* * *

 **Council Chamber, Entrance**

"You idiot! Are you insane?"

Siegrain sighed "Perhaps."

"So you thought that reviving the evilest mage of all time was a good idea? Explain to me how you thought that would be a good idea!"

"Yeah... not the best idea we've had, but it was something."

"You can stop this! If what you told me is true and you and Jellal really have become separate people then you really can stop this."

Erza's face fell when Siegrain frowned. "I'm sorry Erza, but this is my purpose."

"Jellal... no, you are Siegrain! If everything you've told me is true then you are a different person, you do not need to follow Jellal."

"I'm sorry Erza, but my decision has been made." Siegrain then walked over to the council chamber doors before stopping in his tracks. "From Akane beach resort, head South East and you'll end up at the tower."

Without so much as a second thought, Erza flew through the roof of the building, on route to the tower.

"You've got a few hours..." Siegrain chuckled. "Reckless woman," he stated before entering the council chambers.

Naruto was having a terrible day if earlier events didn't already make that evident. Angry guards and mages he could handle, what he couldn't handle was the seemingly endless flight of stairs running on the side of the tower and the babbling cat girl he had picked up along the way. Adding insult to injury he had been dragging three people, bound by rope, up these stairs for the past thirty minutes.

"-So Mr. Whiskers got a new toy right?"

"Yes," Naruto, Sho, and Wally said in unison.

"And he really loved it!"

"I know he loved it," Naruto said through clenched teeth. "You've told us five times."

"Oh... well did I tell you about the time Mr. Whiskers loved a toy so much that when we were playing on these very stairs and I accidentally threw the cat toy off of the tower-"

"His little ass jumped off and killed himself right?"

"W-what? No! He lived! Cats really do have nine lives you know."

"Oh really? Because you've told us like twenty stories in the past thirty minutes and that cat has 'died' in at least fifteen of 'em!"

"Seventeen." Sho and Wally stated.

"Guys..."

"Please... STOP TALKING!"

The girl frowned before tears started forming in her eyes. "*Sniffle* WAHHHH!"

"Oh, nice work you inconsiderate jerk. You made Millianna cry!" Sho said.

"Oh sure. I just know you guys wanna listen to Mr. Whiskers, the physics-defying miracle cat! Hey, girly let's hear about the time, Mr. Whiskers almost drowned!"

"OK!" She chirped, seemingly ignoring the fact that she had been crying a second ago.

The four reached what Wally had confirmed was the final staircase and by this point, Naruto was just about dead if not dying a slow and painful death. At the same time, the rears of the three hostages were rather sore due to the fact that Naruto had been carelessly dragging them up thousands of steps without so much as a break.

"Oh my god..." Naruto said between breaths.

"C-can you give us a break? My butt is sore," Millianna whined.

"Nope. Too risky."

"With how sore our rears will be by the time we reach the top, I don't think we can even run," Wally deadpanned.

"But you can still fight. I don't want to have to deal with you punks getting me from behind while I'm fighting this asshole... phew-" At this point, Naruto couldn't take it anymore so he decided to release his grip on the rope only for a brief moment causing the trio bound by the rope to begin rolling down the stairs. "Oh shit," Naruto muttered.

"HEY GRAB US!" Wally exclaimed.

"I-IF YOU LET US GO THEN WE'LL FALL OFF THE SIDE OF THE TOWER!" Sho cried.

"HELP MR. KITTY!"

Naruto subconsciously rubbed his whisker marks when he heard that. "Mr. Kitty?"

As he watched them roll... and scream... and approach their impending doom he thought back to something Sho told him on the way up here. Something about the three of them being Erza's old friends.

Naruto shrugged it off and continued up the stairs before he began thinking with his other head. Dead friends, he figured, most likely tanked his chances of getting barely to first base with a certain redhead.

Saving them didn't seem like such a bad idea for a moment

"Nah!" Naruto said before continuing up the stairs. He was sure they'd survive, when had he ever been wrong before?

* * *

 **Tower of Heaven, Top Floor**

The blond stopped for a moment and stared at the final set of stairs leading back into the tower. After a couple of deep breaths, he steeled his nerves and re-entered the tower, ready to face the man behind all of this.

The last flight of stairs wasn't as bad as Naruto thought they would be, but he eventually chalked that up to his nervous mind taking his thoughts away from the immense pain he was feeling in his legs. Ultears warning echoed in his mind and for second, he thought he was going to have to turn back. Ultear had mopped the floor with him and if she and Siegrain worked for Jellal then the chances were he was on the same level if not stronger then those two.

How ironic that Fiore's Greatest Thief would be carrying out such a noble act, but then again, at this point, he was no longer a stranger to such acts. He had been surprisingly noble throughout his time with Erza, doing favors for her and what not. He even started thinking of those folks at Fairy Tail as friends, same with Siegrain.

Now he was sure that this was a direct violation of his character or perhaps this was never his character to begin with. It had been so long that Naruto forgot what he was initially like. As Naruto stared at the double doors he now stood before, he thought back to everything he had done up until now, why he was here and how it all ended up this way.

The answer to both of those questions was Erza, the impact she'd had on him could not be denied. In the words of an old friend 'troublesome woman, this time ' he thought with a chuckle as he opened the double doors and stepped into the chamber.

Naruto's eyes immediately fell on the blue crystal formation in the center of the chamber. While he was busy gazing at the crystal, this time, to step into view.

"So you made it," Jellal said, spite oozing from his words. 'You've been nothing but trouble since we've brought you on board."

The moment Naruto locked eyes with Jellal they began to approach one another, their glares matching their anger with one another.

"Well, that's what you get for placing your trust in a thief."

"If only I had never met you... if only you'd never existed then perhaps my plans would have turned out ok, but no. Here you are, standing before me, a traitor."

"Nice observation, how long it take you to come up with that?"

Now the duo stood at least six feet away from one another in complete silence, their glares still locked in place. Perfectly mirroring one another the two buried their fists in each others face. Recovering from that they went for a second punch only for the same result.

The combatants jumped back not wishing to suffer any more injuries of the like. Dark energy encompassed Jellals hand before it shot out towards Naruto at high speeds.

Diving out of the way, Naruto landed just in time to watch the dark energy blow a hole through the tower, exposing the chamber to the fading sunlight.

"You just had to betray us," Jellal began. "You couldn't just kill your emotions like you do whenever you go and steal from the old and helpless to the poor and feeble!" Jellal lunged forward and threw a punch, to which Naruto countered by blocking with the back of his arm. "You had one task! Capture Erza and bring her to me. It should have been simple for someone like you!"

As the duo exchanged blows, Naruto found that Jellals attacks were getting stronger and stronger as if fueled by an ever growing hatred. Eventually, it got to the point where it was starting to hurt whenever Naruto blocked an attack.

"Die!" Jellal cried as he threw one last, dark magic infused punch at Naruto.

The explosion caused by the attack had left another hole in the wall though Naruto was now nowhere to be found.

"You can't hide."

Naruto stood with his back pressed up against the crystal, sweat dripping from his nose. "With just a single attack..." Naruto muttered, holding his bleeding torso. "I-I can't."

All of a sudden a familiar, dark, presence gripped Naruto' psyche. A presence Naruto thought he had shut out for good. As this occurred his body wound had already begun to rapidly heal until it was almost non-existant.

 **'Naruto.'** a deep voice boomed from within his mind.

'No, I don't need your power!'

 **'Oh? Not even the power you sealed away all those years ago?'**

Naruto's eyes widened. 'That power isn't mine! All of that power was technically power that this seal sapped from you. So no.'

 **'Regardless, it's still your power, not mine! You know as well as I that you don't stand a chance as you are now. This man will kill you.'**

'I didn't ask for your input! Now go back to sleep!'

 **'You know I can't do that. This is the first time in years that you've been in a life or death situation.'**

Naruto thought back to his daughter and how the destructive might of the nine tails had contributed to her death. The power he possessed back then, the power that he had once thought was his own had not only frightened her but ultimately helped kill her. As he found out that day, no matter what he did the power of the nine tails would forever be woven in his own chakra.

' **Stop blaming yourself you fool- look out!'**

Naruto was suddenly ejected from his thoughts only to see Jellals fist mere inches from his face. When the fist made contact his body exploded into splinters leaving Jellal more annoyed than surprised.

"Stop running and face your fate."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the crystal, Naruto found himself in an identical position to the one he was in only moments before.

 **'Sealing away power that THEORETICALLY helped kill her isn't going to bring her back!'**

'Don't you think I know that! I wanted to stop relying on you after that incident!'

 **'So one incident, as tragic as it was, was enough to drive a wedge between our partnership?'**

Upon hearing that last word Naruto stepped into Jellals vision and engaged in hand to hand-magic combat, hoping to immerse himself in battle.

 **'You are a fool! Everything you've done since your daughter's death has gone against everything you once stood for!'**

"Shut up!" Naruto exclaimed, sending Jellal into a state of confusion which Naruto capitalized on by delivering a ferocious punch to his temple.

 **'You went against your daughter's wishes and changed for the worse! Then the day came when you started blaming your power, not yourself, YOUR POWER! So you sealed it away!'**

Wordlessly Naruto approached Jellal's prone form, knelt down and picked him up by his hair.

 **'You became a filthy drunk until the day you met that Seigrain fellow! From that day onward you became a lowly, cold-hearted thief.'**

Jellal glared at the blond right before Naruto's fist met his face, sending his head straight back to the ground.

 **'And now the most recent events. You finally made friends and met someone special, yet you remained conflicted. Your deceased daughter or your living friends.'**

'What are you getting at?'

 **'None of your decisions made any sense. You were nothing but a fool stumbling around in the dark trying to find a purpose at the cost of your own judgment, sanity, and emotion. Now that you have regained what remains of your former self, now that you've come to terms with her death you still blame yourself!'**

Suddenly, dark energy pulsed from Jellal's body, sending Naruto flying across the chamber. Wiping a little bit of blood that had begun seeping from his mouth, Jellal refocused his glare at the blond. "Whats the matter?"

 **'Your final step towards redemption is to forgive yourself.'**

The blast of energy had left Naruto dazed and off balance causing him to fall to his knees the moment he got on his feet. The shinobi could only watch helplessly as Jellal approached, ready to deliver the killing blow.

 **'Forgive yourself, and show him who Naruto Uzumaki really is.'** On that note the presence of the nine tails faded away, leaving Naruto to stare down Jellal's magic-infused fist.

* * *

 **Council Chamber**

"Eight to one..." Siegrain muttered, his hand raised.

Ultear smiled at her blue-haired colleague. "You sound apprehensive. You just told us that if we didn't destroy the tower then the black wizard Zeref would be resurrected."

The rest of the council members looked at Siegrain in wonder only to receive a nod. "Yes, this is for the best."

"Then it is settled," an elderly one-eyed man began. "We are to fire the Etherion cannon."

Siegrain frowned. "Yes..."

* * *

 **Oceans just off the coast of Fiore...**

Meanwhile, soaring high above the sea was Erza, unwavering in her gaze at the Horizon. The sun was going down, she noticed, and she was worried that she wouldn't make it in time, after all, she had no idea when or if the Etherion Cannon would fire. All she could do was stare at the horizon and pray that the tower would eventually come into view.

* * *

 **Alright so if it already wasn't evident then we are closing in on the conclusion to this story! Not sure how many chapters till the end, but we'll see.**

 **Anywho, thanks for reading.**


	17. A New Dream

**The Final Two Chapters are here, enjoy!**

* * *

 **A New Dream**

* * *

A break in the wind followed by a sickening squelching noise and the sound of Naruto's blood painting the walls and floors broke the silence between the two fighters. There wasn't a hint of pain on Naruto's face, just a cold stare at the man who delivered him the fatal blow. It wasn't pain he felt, but sheer annoyance. He figured he'd die here, after all, he figured he'd be weaker than Jellal since he lost horribly to Ultear and he had just traversed an entire tower while fending off guards and skilled mages.

What bugged him was how he was going to die, impaled by the fist of his enemy. It felt pathetic, shameful even. Naruto envisioned himself going out with a bang not dying slowly to his opponent.

Oddly enough, death to atone for his sins wasn't really all that bad in his mind. After all, he most likely deserved this and at least he had successfully put a stop to his plans. Jellal can't use a dead vessel now can he?

Jellal grinned before retracting his fist, causing blood to gush out and Naruto to fall to the floor, motionless. While he was slightly annoyed that he had just murdered his last hope to revive Zeref it was far more satisfying to see the blond who had caused him so much grief fall to him.

With that, Jellal resumed his throne and took a deep breath. His work wasn't finished yet, he still had to stop his other self from firing the Etherion Cannon and potentially salvage the operation.

It was only then that he remembered that the mind link between he and Siegrain had just been freshly corrupted by Naruto's chakra. At the reminder he slammed his fist down, cracking the armrest in the process.

In a rage, Jellal stood up and approached Naruto's body. "You couldn't just do your job, you had to go and ruin EVERYTHING." he cried before viciously stomping and kicking the blond over and over until he started hearing bones crack "Each segment of my plan, derailed by you! If you'd never existed things would have been perfectly fine!"

Naruto hadn't so much as twitched at this point, Jellal wasn't even sure if he was breathing anymore.

* * *

 **"Have you decided,"** the booming voice of the Nine-Tails echoed through the long, flooded corridors of his mind. **"Is this how you want to die?"**

Naruto shook his head as he made his way down a narrow, flooded corridor.

 **"Then unseal YOUR power."**

Naruto hesitantly nodded.

"Hey, nine tails I can feel my body failing me. How long do I have?"

 **"Not long, as soon as you unseal your power I'll heal your wounds-"** the nine tails stopped when the area began to shake. **"Someones a little salty."**

"What was that?" Naruto asked before it happened again.

 **"Looks like he's getting in some free shots while you're down. If I were you then I'd hurry and find the seal."**

After a bit of walking, Naruto came upon three doors that each resembled the entrance to a janitor's closet. On each of these doors, a sign written on with red ink labeled their contents. The first read 'Chakra', the second read 'Body' and the third which bore no label.

At the moment, Naruto's attention was focused solely on the peculiar third door.

 **'If you want... you can try that one...'**

Naruto complied and gripped the knob before immediately being hit with a calming sensation that caused him to hesitate before opening the door. The moment the door opened he was met with a blinding light that illuminated the dark corridor. As Naruto shielded his eyes from the blinding rays of light, he caught a glimpse of a familiar body that slowly became more and more apparent as his eyes adjusted. His daughter, or at least the spectral of his daughter, now stood before him bearing the same, familiar smile he loved so much. All of a sudden the intensity of the light had died down enough for Naruto to be able to lower his arms and reach out into the light.

She was out of arms reach, he discovered and for whatever reason, he felt apprehensive about entering although he felt the urge to as well, as if he was being silently beckoned in by her.

Himawari frowned at this before reaching out to her father like figure.

Now they were almost touching fingertips, all Naruto had to do was step into the light... the soothing, calming light his deceased daughter was now standing in. When he came to the obvious conclusion he closed his eyes and sadly retracted his arm.

"Himawari... I'm sorry," Naruto sobbed. "I-I want to be there with you, but I can't... I don't even belong there."

"This isn't the afterlife silly!"

"W-what?"

"This is just me."

"B-but how?"

 **"Ahem!"** the fox boomed.

Himawari giggled. "It was Kurama's last gesture before you sealed away your power that day. He had the bright idea to salvage the last of my chakra with his own and dump it all here so that... that we could talk, this one last time."

"The fox... did this? Kurama I-"

 **"Save it brat. I'm still mad at you!"**

"We can talk a bit later! Right now you have to deal with this guy!"

Naruto glanced over at the doors containing his long-sealed power. "Kurama."

"Hmm?"

"Let's crush this asshole!"

* * *

The Etherion Cannon had fired taking the entire tower with it and revealing its true form, a giant blue lacrima that is now charged with magic energy from the Etherion Cannon. At the moment, Jellal had no idea what to do, his entire plan was ruined now and was completely unsalvageable. All he could do was wait for the lacrima to become unstable where he would die in a swirling vortex of magic energy.

As he waiting for his impending doom, a breaking in the wind caught his attention. When he realized that it was coming from behind him at a rapid speed Jellal quickly dove out of his throne just before it shattered into hundreds of pieces.

When Jellal recovered he looked up and spotted the culprit. A grin made its presence on Jellal as he realized who this person was. The plan was now officially, salvageable.

"Erza," he muttered, resuming his posture.

Erza drew her blade, having reverted to her normal attire "Jellal."

"If you've come to save your friend then it's too late." Jellal began, his grin never fading "I wouldn't get any idea's about attempting to save him either. I took the liberty of tossing his lifeless body off the side of the tower."

"Jellal... what have you become? What happened to you?"

"I think you already know the answer to that, isn't that right Siegrain?"

At that moment, Siegrain stepped into view, a frown visible on his face "I'm sorry about this Erza."

"Merge with me."

Siegrain nodded at this base counterpart and began the merging process.

Acting quickly Erza flung her blade at the two only for an invisible barrier to repel the sword with enough force to send it out of the tower and into the ocean.

"Damnit."

"To think that my plans were almost ruined, if we act fast then we can succeed in our dream."

"Our... dream."

Suddenly Siegrain found himself reminiscing at the times he had spent with Ultear and Naruto, two people he had come to consider as companions. He had spent the longest amount of time with the female of the duo which naturally led to a friendship of sorts between the two. Naruto was the same way, only he was the one who gave him his own personality, his own mindset and most importantly a new dream.

It felt wrong and right at the same time. Going against himself, there had to be some divine taboo associated with such an act. In the end, he realized that he was simply his own person with his own idea and that was something that he didn't want to be taken away from him.

Siegrain halted the process causing Jellal to look on at his counterpart in wonder before receiving a magically enhanced punch to the face which sent him tumbling into the large crystal in the center.

"You... rotten clone."

"Sorry, but I have a new dream."

"And what would that be?"

"To ensure a brighter tomorrow for those I can call friend."

Erza smiled at this before a sword materialized in her hands. "Glad you came to your senses."

"Is that so?" Jellal mused. "If you were planning on betraying me then you should have decided to break away a little earlier Siegrain." with that a golden light pulsed from his body sending his opponents flying. "I created you and I can end you for betraying me."

'Damnit! He managed to pull a little more than seventy percent of my power,' Siegrain thought, barely pulling himself to his feet. Making eye contact with Erza who too had just gotten to her feet, he gave her a nod which she returned before directing her attention to Jellal.

The duo charged at the empowered mage only to stop in their tracks when he disappeared.

"He vanished?" Erza asked.

"No."

Suddenly Jellal appeared directly in front of Erza causing her to slash and jab at the man.

"You two can't win."

Erza sped up her strikes. "Stop moving!"

"Erza! He's far too fast, we'll need another strategy-" Siegrain didn't get to finish as Jellal had buried his foot in his gut, sending him sprawling across the floor.

"Seigrain!" Erza called out only to get sent into one of the pillar-shaped lacrima lining the edge of the tower by a golden energy that pulsed from Jellal.

Jellal approached his fallen clone, his hand now coated in a black mist. "I'll be taking my power back now.

Erza attempted to stand only to fall forward, giving her a perfect view of what was to come. "I can't... move."

All Siegrain could do was watch as Jellal infused his fist with dark magic and cocked it back. "Goodbye, you defect."

The ex-councilor grit his teeth and closed his eyes, but the blow never came.

After a whole ten seconds, he opened his eyes only to see Jellal standing a good distance away from him. What caused him to breathe a sigh of relief, however, was the cloaked, gold figure who was know kneeling before him.

"Sup Sieg."

"I'm not even going to ask what why you're glowing," Siegrain said with a chuckle. "Glad you aren't dead by the way."

A triumphant smile made an appearance on Erza's face.

Seeing that his friend was still alive and breathing, Naruto stood up, turned around and glared at Jellal who's face was now red with fury. "Naruto Uzumaki... every step, every single damn turn! Why must you always interfere? Why won't you just give up and die!"

Naruto gave him a half-grin before making a fist and placing it against his chest. "Because you're a danger to the lives of my friends," Naruto said before holding his fist out in front of him, towards Jellal. "And for that, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

The potency of Jellal's rage caused the ground to shake and the air to become dense. "This time, I'll make sure you don't come back.


	18. Redemption and Sacrifice

**Finale: Redemption and Sacrifice**

 **'Since this is our first transformation you won't have long! Wrap it up quickly!'**

The tower was dead silent with the only trace of sound coming from the heavy breeze that swept across the arena. Both warriors stood eye to eye within swinging distance, their fists balled up and ready for a fight.

Naruto was the first to break their staring match as he disappeared in a flash of gold and reappeared behind Jellal, catching the mage off guard. The first strike went to Naruto who's quick-strike sent him sliding to the other side of the tower.

The jinchuriki grinned at this before being punished by an equally fast punch to the face, courtesy of his opponent. When he recovered the duo began exchanging blows at lightning fast speeds, so fast that neither combatant nor spectator was sure who was winning. Eventually, the duo exchanged a blow to each others faces, ending the clash and sending them both sprawling along the ground.

Having the same idea, both Naruto and Jellal dashed forward and smashed their forearms together with such speed and strength that they simultaneously winced. Naruto was able to capitalize on this as he ducked down and swept Jellals feet from under him before delivering a devastating blow to Jellals gut causing a crunching noise to emit from his body. Following this was a series of inhumanly fast strikes to various parts of Jellals body.

Naruto finished his relentless assault by taking hold of the mages face and slamming him into the ground. He was about to deliver the decisive blow only to be sent into the layer of thick lacrima that the tower passed off as a ceiling by a golden barrier of energy.

Seizing the opportunity to counter, Jellal stood and aimed a shot via the magic circle at Naruto's falling form with his hand only to be interrupted as a massive sword swung overhead. Jellal retracted his arm before engaging in battle with his old friend.

"Surrender, it's three on one."

"Do you often ask your enemies to surrender before you kill them?" Jellal remarked, amused as he dodged Erza's blade.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines, Siegrain was readying a shot as a golden magic circle appeared before him. "Erza move!" he cried as a golden beam fired from his palm.

Hearing this, Erza swung with the blunt end of her blade low, temporarily crippling the already weakened Jellal, before she maneuvered to where she was in front of the blast and shifted into a new armor. A protective white and black armor set that sported two shields of the same color scheme. The moment the beam made contact with the shields it dissipated, earning an annoyed grunt from Siegrain.

"What are you doing?"

"We aren't killing him, that's not the mage way!"

"But it sure as hell is mine!" Naruto called out as he came rocketing back into the tower.

Seizing the opportunity to do so, Jellal kicked Erza to the side and readied a spell moments before Naruto could make contact. Four golden beams shot from his body and clashed with Naruto's attack creating a thick layer of smoke.

When the smoke cleared both combatants stood, unfazed.

"I'll end this," Jellal announced as he took flight.

"Now what?" Naruto asked, readying himself for what was to come.

When he was at a high enough altitude he held his hands out in front of him, placing his hands above one another with his two index fingers on the top hand spread apart "It's over." he exclaimed before a blast of energy hit the ground causing those in range of the attack to disperse.

"Wanna bring out the big shit?" Naruto called out before a forming a sphere of black energy in his hand "Catch!" he exclaimed before tossing it through the smoke, dispersing it.

Unfortunately, the attack missed.

All four present at the tour could only watch as the black ball of destruction flew across the ocean only to create a devastating explosion over the horizon that shook the very ocean.

"Oh shit," Naruto muttered.

Meanwhile, Jellal could only gawk at the sheer power displayed by the blond. 'If one of those hits me-'

"I won't miss this time!"

The moment Naruto announced his attack, Erza shifted places to where she was directly in front of Naruto.

"Hey, what's your deal?"

"We aren't killing him."

"What?"

"We're capturing him alive."

"How touching," Jellal announced before repeating the attack. "You still care."

The moment she realized this Erza turned around and smashed the two shields together. The moment the attack made contact it dispersed leaving Jellal wide-eyed.

"It'll take a lot more than that to break these shields."

Naruto grunted in annoyance before taking a spot beside her. "If you say so. Now how exactly are we going to capture him?"

"I have a plan," Siegrain announced before taking a place beside Naruto.

"Well, let's hear it."

Siegrain eyed his twin before turning to face his comrades and saying in a low tone. "The moment he flies within reach I'll merge with him. The sudden infusion of power should be enough to ground him long enough for you two to knock him unconscious."

Naruto widened his eyes in shock. "W-what? You can't be serious!"

"I am."

"What are you three plotting down there?" Jellal asked, amused.

"If you do that-"

"I will no longer exist, but it is for a good cause. We need to pay for our crimes."

Naruto grit his teeth in frustration before turning to Erza who looked equally concerned "What do you think?"

"It is his decision... I personally had something else in mind."

"Uh... you gonna let us in on it?"

"Beat him into submission."

Naruto perked up at this before smashing his fist into his palm. "Yeah I like that plan. Let's go with that-" Naruto said right before the golden energy vanished "U-uh..."

"What happened?"

"We took to long..."

 **'Dumbass.'**

"Can you bring it back?" Erza asked.

"Well... no, but we can still beat this guy right?"

Erza sighed before changing into a rather revealing armor if one could even call it that, with a cougar scheme to it. "I was hoping your speed could match his while we snuck in a few crippling blows here and there. Now we have to slow him down if want even a chance at landing a hit on him."

Having grown tired of waiting, Jellal flew in for a surprise attack at immense speeds that only Naruto's eye could keep up with.

"Move!" Naruto exclaimed causing the three to dive out of the way just in time to avoid the attack.

"Looks like whatever you used to keep up with me is gone now." Jellal affirmed, "It seems my plan can be salvaged yet!"

Naruto was the first to engage, rushing in while simultaneously creating ten duplicates behind him, he leapt forward and threw a punch only for it to be caught. Following up on this, his clones began their fruitless assault.

"This guy's way too fast!"

"He's dodging our attacks!"

"Boss what's that!" one clone cried, referring to the massive metallic object flying towards them at high speeds.

"That's our cue to move!" Naruto ordered before diving out of harm's way.

Jellal smirked before dispersing the clones with a single roundhouse and catching the object with a single hand.

"Wanna give me a warning next time Red?"

Effortlessly tossing aside a massive sword that most would consider too heavy for any normal man to wield, Jellal stepped forward and grinned at Erza "You know Erza, if you surrender now I may consider sparing your lives... not yours of course because I require it, but the lives of the blond idiot there and the traitorous clone there."

Naruto and Siegrain glared at the man.

"There's no denying it... he's way too fast for me to even land a hit on him!" Naruto said, glancing at Siegrain "You know him better than any of us, any weaknesses?"

Siegrain clenched his fists "Unfortunately... no."

"Damnit. He's not even at full power either."

"Heh, speaking of which, I'll be taking my power back now," Jellal said from behind his thought projection.

'When did he move?' Naruto, Erza, and Siegrain thought simultaneously.

Too fast for any of them to react, Jellal grabbed Siegrain by the back of his neck and pulled him back. "You know... it is nothing short of remarkable how you became your own person. Wouldn't it be a shame if I just ended it here?"

"Shit." Naruto muttered 'How long until I can use your power again?'

 **'Two hours.'**

'Great.'

Erza's eye wandered over the duo, to Jellal's smirking face and Siegrains pained glare. Hesitantly, Erza dropped her weapon and reverted back to her normal attire "We cannot defeat you."

This statement startled Naruto who looked about ready to go in for another attack "What? Are you giving up already?"

"We have no choice. Without your speed to aid us we don't stand a chance, especially if he completely merges with Siegrain."

"Uh huh? Naive much?"

"What?"

"Do you honestly think he's going to let us live if you give yourself up? As it stands, I'm the only one who can stand against his speed, he'll just take back the rest of his power from Siegrain and he needs you for the sacrifice! Use your head!"

"Naruto," Jellal growled, with a bit of spite in his voice. "Yes I admit it, I was just going to kill you anyway. Siegrain is my property and you, Erza... well I've already told you now haven't I? But I did consider sparing that guild... Fairytail. Those guys are amusing enough to keep around in my new world."

Erza widened her eyes. "Do I have your word? Will you truly spare my family?"

"Stop talking like we're going to lose!"

"And I'm the naive one? If you can't access that power then we don't stand a chance."

"Surrender yourself and I will spare Fairytail and to add a bit of credibility to my promise, I am mostly the reason Fairytail hasn't been disbanded yet you know."

"No, I'm the reason," Siegrain managed to say.

Irritated by this Naruto approached Erza who had begun walking towards the man and grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her violently "Are you insane? Would you rather the entire world be enslaved by this guy? If you surrender yourself to him then the world can say goodbye to free will! Is that what you want?"

"If you don't willingly surrender and I have to take you by force, I will slaughter every last one of those insects at your guild."

Erza looked torn, even after Naruto began shaking her again.

"I'm giving you a chance here Erza. To be honest, I could just take you by force now, but it's far more amusing this way... and I'm doing this for old times sake. Why not choose the better of the two options in this losing battle?"

The redhead closed her eyes before slowly pushing Naruto to the side. "Then do as you must, but I have a condition of my own."

"Oh?"

"No Erza!" Siegrain cried from under Jellal's grasp.

"Allow Naruto to leave. Should your plan succeed then you will have all of the power necessary to stop him if he were to stand against you. He isn't a threat."

"Fine. Leave then Naruto. Abandon her, leave her to her fate."

Erza eyed Naruto sadly. "Go," she demanded.

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. Either way, he was fucked, Erza simply couldn't understand the situation well enough. At this point, Jellal had a personal vendetta against him and was likely going to hunt him down and execute him the moment his dream became a reality.

Because of this Naruto shoved Erza to the side with enough force to knock her over and stepped forward "I can't believe you. You would just give up and sacrifice the world's freedoms just to that a small group of people can survive?"

"They aren't just a group of people! They're my-"

"Family? Is this what your family would want? No! Knowing that pink haired kid he'd be fighting till his last breath to ensure a better tomorrow for the world."

"You don't-"

"He and the rest of the guild would be ashamed of you if they saw you now!"

"I-" she attempted to say before a lone tear cascaded down her cheek.

Seeing her defeated state Naruto extended his arm to her and gave her his signature grin. "We all make mistakes you know."

Erza took his hand and pulled herself to her feet. "I'm sorry, but-"

"Look I get it. Not to long ago I would have gladly traded the world for the life of my daughter, but now I see the bigger picture here. We can't give up."

The young woman remained silent.

"Naruto Uzumaki... Just when I thought I couldn't hate you more."

Siegrain could feel the last ounces of magic being drained from his body so with the last of his strength he cried, "I can't resist any longer! You two need to stop us before-" Siegrain never got to finish as his body suddenly exploded into small glowing orbs of light.

"Siegrain!" the duo cried.

Jellal chuckled a bit before it became full-blown laughter as the particles of light were absorbed into his body. "You ought to surrender now. There's no point in fighting a losing battle."

"Damn you Jellal!" Naruto cried before recklessly charging the man.

"Wait Naruto!"

"Fool."

Naruto had barely made it within arms reach of the man before he was sent back to where he began by Jellal's fist.

"He's far too strong," Erza said before retrieving her blade. "We need a better strategy."

"Right, " Naruto struggled to say as he climbed to his feet. "Not my best idea."

"How should we approach this?"

"We go with the initial plan. Pummel his ass!"

Erza tightened the grip on her blade. "I hope your optimism isn't for naught."

"We'll pull through."

"Is that so? Then allow me to crush that optimism of yours," Jellal said before, in a single hand motion, he caused the ground to shake and the air to grow dense.

Naruto and Erza were brought to their knees under his immense power as breathing had suddenly become far more difficult for the two.

"He's too powerful!"

"T-that all you got?"

"Heh. You truly are something, still not demoralized even after that little display? How's about something more extravagant!" With that, Jellal turned his gaze to the horizon and lifted his arm.

"What are you doing?" Naruto hissed.

Jellal only grinned before launching a blast of magic energy over the horizon.

"No..." Erza murmured.

"What?"

"That's the direction of Fiore's coastline!"

An explosion over the horizon followed her statement.

"You bastard!"

"HAHAHA!" Jellal laughed. "Now do you see? You don't stand a chance! You're going to die here Naruto and you Erza, you should have taken my offer."

"Damn you."

"The first thing I'm going to do is round up your friends and execute them, but not before letting them know that it's all your fau-" The insane mage froze, confused for a moment before his confusion turned to pure pain and anguish.

Taking note of this Naruto gestured to the flying mage who was now holding his torso in agony. "Red look!"

Jellal began screaming as he hovered back down to the ground. The moment his feet touched the floor his eyes shot open and he gripped his head in pain "Naruto, Erza I can't hold him for long! End it now!" he suddenly screamed.

"Siegrain!" Naruto exclaimed before exchanging glances with Erza who in turn nodded "Right! Hang in there, this bastard is as good a dead!"

"Prepare to pay for your crimes Jellal!" Erza exclaimed as she charged her sword with magic energy causing any debris in the vicinity to float.

In Naruto's hands, a sphere of blue energy was formed, its very presence altering the course of the breeze that had been blowing through the tower. Naruto eyed the man before him before rushing forward with Erza in tow.

"NO!" Jellal cried as his body fell limp "I've come too far to fail!" he shouted as the tower began to shake. "You fools, even if you kill me now the explosion from the tower will still claim your lives!"

"At least we'll have died making sure your ass doesn't get to rule!"

Both attacks connected the moment Naruto finished his sentence, however even though both of them put a massive amount of force into the attack Jellal remained where he stood with a grin. "HA! EVEN NOW WHEN YOUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!"

"Just a little more!"

"Right!"

To Jellals shock he began to slide back. "No!" he cried for one last time before he was lifted off of his feet "I can't die here!"

"It's over Jellal!" Erza stated, tears streaming from her left eye.

"One more push!"

Using the combined forces of their attacks and the rest of their power they pierced through his body resulting in a massive blue vortex of chakra and Eternano to encompass the area and trigger the inevitable explosion of the tower.

Deep within the vortex, Naruto and Erza were suffering thousands of microscopic cuts as a result of the potency of Naruto's chakra while Jellal was being met with a far more painful fate. Along with the microscopic cuts from the chakra were the Eternano radiation burns, his body was beginning to shut down and his breathing was starting to slow.

One final thought ran through Jellal's head before he closed his eyes and his body failed him. 'This can't be- I can't die here!'

From a distance, those on the ruined coast of Fiore were attempting to get as far away from the ocean as possible as the storm encompassed the entirety of a ten-mile radius and shook the very ocean causing high tides to lash about on the beaches of Fiore.

The storm ensued for thirty minutes until, just as it once appeared, it abruptly vanished leaving the citizens to stare in awe and wonder.


	19. The Following Week

**The Following Week**

 **One week after the Tower of Heaven Incident**

At the guild bar, Erza sat atop the center stool with a slice of her favorite strawberry cheesecake sitting on a plate before her. Now Erza was never one to waste her food, especially if that food was her favorite sweet treat, so it was an oddity at the guild to see her poking at it with a fork with a neutral stare. This was a red flag to all in the guild that basically meant, do not speak to or breath the same air as Erza.

"OK! I knew you'd want seconds so I-" Mirajane's bright and bubbly demeanor toned down the moment she saw Erza, poking at her food. "You haven't even touched it."

Erza sighed. "I'm sorry, hit me if you must."

The barmaid set the plate beside the first slice of cake and rested her elbows on the bar, directly in front of Erza. "You sound a little depressed here. That's not like you."

"I'm more concerned then depressed."

"About Naruto?"

Suddenly the fork she was holding popped off its handle and fell into the cake.

Unfazed by this, Mirajane plucked the fork out of the cake and tossed it into a trash can below the bar. "If you keep breaking our forks I'll have to start charging you for the cake."

"Sorry about that, I'm just... well I don't know," Erza admitted.

"You don't know?"

"You see, I feel angry that he isn't here but at the same time I'm sad as well." she looked up from her cake. "I don't even know if he's alive."

MIrajane slid the handle out of Erza's hand "I'm sorry Erza, but we combed that beach. All we found were you, a small group of cultists, Wally, Millianna, and Sho."

Hearing the names of her friends she perked up. "I had heard that they asked to join the guild while I was in that coma, how are they?"

"Well, they've warmed up to just about everyone here. Wally seems to prefer keeping himself occupied, Millianna and Happy look like they're getting along well and Sho-" Mirajane paused and moved close to Erza's ear. "I think he has a crush on me."

The redhead chuckled. "And what of Simon?"

"Simon said something about traveling, seeing the world and getting stronger so that he could protect a certain someone."

"I'm glad," Erza smiled.

"See? It all ended well right? Now go back to being the same lovable Erza!"

Erza nodded. "Thanks, I do feel a lot better now, but..."

"Naruto again?"

"He keeps popping into my head."

"Well Erza," Mirajane began. "what do you think?"

Erza thought for a moment. "I think he's out there somewhere," she stated, longingly. "He's far too stubborn to die."

Mirajane gave her a satisfied nod before walking back towards the kitchen "Well Erza, you never know," The white haired mage stopped at the doors to the kitchen and glanced over her shoulder before continuing. "My advice: just wait a bit. From what I've seen you two are like magnets and I'm sure you'll meet again eventually."

With that, Mirajane disappeared behind the kitchen doors leaving Erza alone with her thoughts.

'Magnets,' she thought before the ear piercing cries of Natsu broke her out of her trance.

"C'mon Erza I know you've been dying to get out of this guild since you woke up! Look I already have a job all picked out-" Natsu didn't get to finish as Lucy came seemingly from nowhere and snatched the boy up into a headlock.

"She just woke up from a coma you idiot! Cut her some slack!"

"Quit moping around Erza we've got work to do."

"Not you to Gray!" Lucy cried as she began to panic.

The sight of her friends brought a happy expression to her face. "Well I'm still a tad sore, it can't be anything too difficult otherwise master Makarov won't allow me to attend."

"You don't have to worry about that, it's easy stuff! All we have to do is slay the volcano wyvern spotted near Crocus!" Natsu beamed. "It'll be a piece of cake!"

Erza began to laugh, absurdly so. "That's fine, we'll depart immediately."

"Alright!" Natsu cried.

"Are you guys serious?"

"Come Lucy." Erza said before wrapping her arm around Lucy's fragile frame. "You need to put some meat on those bones."

"T-to t-tight!"

* * *

 **Meanwhile...**

 **Deep Within Naruto's mind.**

Naruto and Himawari sat across from one another, cross-legged amid the endless, grassy plains lying beneath a golden, star-sprinkled sky. They seemed eager to begin their last conversation.

"So um... are we going to start?" the girl asked nervously.

"Huh? Oh I'm sorry, I just... this is quite a bit for me to take in, believe it."

"You still haven't gotten over that! Dad it's annoying!"

"Hehe... I know it is. I also know it gets you all embarrassed and riled up when I say it, believe it!"

"Stop!"

The duo shared a brief chuckle together for the first time in years. He still couldn't believe it, his little girl, not exactly 'in the flesh', but she was there all the same! He'd even give the fox a big ole smooch for this if he'd let him!

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you still blame yourself for what happened?"

Naruto couldn't help but frown. He knew the truth would hurt her, he couldn't just outright say it without steeling himself for a moment. "I- I do."

"I see. What about Kurama?"

"The fox? Yeah... I- I used to blame him too. But now I'm ready to own up to it! From this day onward, I promise that I'll never blame someone else for my mistakes again!" he cried in an exaggerated manner, causing the girl to giggle.

"You really haven't changed!"

At that, he couldn't help but look away. "That's-"

"I know dad, I've been watching all this time after all."

"Oh right hehe... I guess you had a pretty good view of everything that happened afterward didn't you? I know its far too late but- I'm sorry you had to see me that way. You had to watch me tear my own life apart, drink myself to sleep every damn night for a year and hurt so many innocent people."

A sniffle brought him out of his moment of self-pity causing him to direct his attention to the now crying girl.

"I- I didn't want our last moments together to be spent talking about- about this!" she said through her tears.

Naruto scooted over to her side and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close. "How long do you have?"

"Not long, maybe a minute if what Kurama says is true. There wasn't much chakra left and with each word I say- I- I become closer and closer to fading away for good. I- I don't wanna go dad! I'll stay quiet until you die of old age if I have too!"

"I don't want you to go either sweetie." This time, it was Naruto's turn to cry as he tucked the girls head into his chest. "But- a life without speaking? C'mon, you and me both know you're a big ole chatterbox!"

"D-daddy!" she said as her body became somewhat see-through. Even then, Naruto could still feel her, and she, the warmth of her father. "Promise me dad, promise when you finally pass... you'll be there with me! Promise that you'll find me and we can spend forever and ever together!"

Naruto knew that after all he had done, the chances of him following her were slim. She was pure, and he, a tainted criminal. If there was some otherworldly force out there, he silently prayed to it in that moment, begging for a chance at redemption, not for his sake, but for his daughters.

"That's- that's something I can't guarantee. Your father isn't the best guy you know?" he said, getting choked up.

"You're the best dad a girl could ask for." Her form was slipping, ever so slowly fading away. "Make me this one last promise dad! When you promise, you always fulfill it right?"

"I... promise. I'll go back to how I was before, I swear it! I-I'll even give up stealing! It'll be hard sure, but- but I- I'll do it! That's my promise of a lifetime!"

"I know you will!" Himawari, whose form was now almost nonexistent, locked eyes with her father one last time. "Thanks for taking care of me, for being my new dad! Don't worry, I'll tell my blood parents all about you! I'll tell them all about the times when you cheered me up when I got sad, how you always remembered my birthday, how you always took care of me when I got sick! Everything you did, I'll tell them! I'll let them know you did a good job!"

Naruto chuckled. "You be good to them now, y'hear?"

Himawari nodded one last time before her body faded away completely. A single phrase echoed through the endless landscape, likely to carry on for an eternity.

A single, heartfelt phrase of, "I love you dad."

* * *

A series of hard jabs at various parts of his body, mostly his eyes, shook Naruto awake. To his surprise, he'd awoken just in time to avoid becoming bird food as the seagulls flew off, screeching as they did so.

"Damn birds," he muttered before sitting up and spitting some sand out of his mouth.

"Finally awake hmm?" he heard a voice beside him say.

"J-Jellal?" Naruto exclaimed, utterly shocked.

"Yes, that's my name," the man laying stiffly on his back replied. "You've been out for a week."

"I have?"

"Yes... how are you not dead?"

Naruto almost laughed at this. "Well I know how I survived, but how the hell did you survive?"

Jellal sighed. "Well as it turns out, being exposed to so much Eternano tends to keep your body in working condition. Still, I wouldn't mind a nice slice of roasted beef with a side of freshly cooked mashed potatoes and a cold glass of water."

"If you keep talking like that, I'll just have to resort to cannibalism."

Jellal laughed. "Yes, I suppose I wouldn't be able to stop you. Unfortunate."

Finally noticing his change in demeanor Naruto began scratching the back of his head before asking. "What are you talking about?"

"Well you see, I can't exactly move here."

"Well serves you right for trying to kill me jackass!"

"I do deserve this."

"Darn right you do- w-what?"

"I deserve to be crippled for all the pain I've brought upon everyone... and especially Erza."

"Who the hell are you?"

Jellal looked confused for a moment before restating his name. "Jellal."

"Yeah I know your name, but what's with the change in attitude? Last I remember you were an insane maniac hell-bent on resurrecting the world's evilest mage and becoming the supreme overlord of the world."

The mage stayed silent for a brief moment. "Listen, Allow me to apologize for everything first. You don't have to accept my apology, but I needed to get it off my chest."

"So just like that? You're gonna apologize just like that?"

"I am."

"What the heck happened to you?"

"I honestly don't know."

An awkward silence passed before Naruto stood up and took in his surroundings. A sandy island with a single palm tree in the middle of the ocean.

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"Yes, we're stuck here."

"We? HA! More like you're stuck here," Naruto said as he stepped onto the surface of the ocean. "Catch you later buddy!"

"Wait."

"Huh? What?"

"I have a question for you."

"Hmm?'

"Erza, are you going to go find her?"

Naruto narrowed an eye before stepping back onto the island. "Where's this coming from?" he quizzed.

"I haven't had a conversation with anyone for the past week and I'm curious. You seemed to care a great deal for her, even going as far as to betray me to save her life. Something tells me you two are a little more than friends."

The blond sighed before taking a seat beside the paralyzed mage. "I have no idea what we are anymore. I guess at the very least she's a friend."

"Do you care for her?"

"Well kinda- wait what the hell? Why am I telling you these things?"

"Why not?"

Naruto opened his mouth to say something only to silence himself when he finally came to the realization that this couldn't have been the Jellal he knew.

"I get it. You don't trust me, but trust me- er... uh?"

"I'm listening."

Relieved, Jellal continued. "I don't know what happened to me, but when I woke a week ago I felt different. It was like a weight had been lifted off my chest but then I remembered everything I had done. For the first time, I'd felt guilty."

Naruto wasn't entirely sure what to think when he heard this. On one hand he wanted to put the guy out of his misery and on the other hand he wanted to believe he had changed. Something in Jellal's tone was beginning to convince Naruto that he was being truthful.

"So are you going back to find Erza?"

Brought out of his thoughts Naruto turned his gaze to the sun that had begun to set. "Perhaps, but I don't even know if she survived."

The blue haired mage chuckled. "Trust me, Erza's still alive."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Call it a hunch."

"So... what should I do when I see her again?"

With an immense amount of effort Jellal shrugged.

"Gee thanks."

"Don't mention it."

They exchanged glares before turning their gaze towards the sun.

"Erza's a good person."

Naruto turned and gave the man his full attention.

"I'm not going to live long enough to see her again, the Eternano inside of me is eating away at my life force as we speak so I want you to deliver this message to her."

"Let's hear it."

"Just... let her know that I'm sorry," The dying mage smiled a bit before turning his gaze to the darkening sky. "Be good to her alright?"

"Why don't you just tell her yourself?"

Jellal looked at him as if he had just told a distasteful joke. "What do you mean?"

"My life. I need to re-think it. There are things I gotta atone for, things I gotta do back home so I won't be in Fiore anymore. You, however, well, I'll help you out."

"What are you-"

Naruto closed his eyes, mentally asking Kurama for a favor to which he, after a mental moment of arguing, complied.

Suddenly, Jellal felt something seep into his body, something that was slowly mending what was broken. He could feel the forign Ethernano within slowly dying and being flushed from his body entirely.

"You should be fine now," Naruto said before standing up and walking off, stepping onto the ocean. "Now do me a favor. Give her this." Naruto reached under his collar and fumbled his hand around before grabbing hold of the necklace around his neck. He slowly removed it and tossed it onto Jellals chest. "I won that off an old granny a while back, no worries, it was a friendly bet. When you give it to her, tell I said, 'thanks for helping me find myself'."

Jella smiled and, with the minuscule amount of strength that returned to his arm, he grabbed the object and pocketed it. "Good luck, Naruto."

"You too Sieg- er I mean-"

"No. I think I might take on that name from now on. The name 'Jellal' leaves quite a bad taste in my mouth these days."

"Go for it, sounds cooler anyways."

With that final exchange, Naruto walked off in some random direction, eliciting surprise from Jellal who happened to know for a fact that the closest landmass was in the opposite direction. He shrugged, knowing that the man likely had a destination in mind.

Suddenly, Naruto came frantically rushing back from beyond the horizon and stepped onto the island with an embarrassed grin on his face. Jellal immediately knew what he would say next.

"Hey uh, can you point me towards land?"


	20. A Brief Reunion and a Final Farewell

**Here it is, the final chapter and the way I had originally intended on ending the story! I hope you've all enjoyed the read thus far despite its many, many flaws!**

 **Update 1/15/18: Outdated chapter.**

* * *

 **A Brief Reunion and a Final Farewell**

* * *

Erza had a lot on her mind on this particular evening. For starters, she had to get ready for the rapidly approaching S-class trials, however, that turned out to be a minor thing compared to what was asked of her this morning. Simon, her old friend, merely a week after his return had asked her out on a date.

She was flustered at first, unsure of how to react as such a thing has never happened to her. Simon was her childhood friend, they spent their early years growing up in the same village together, they were both slaves. They had been through so much but something couldn't quite bring her to say yes.

Without beating around the bush, it was Naruto that kept her from saying yes, after all, she still believed he was alive and out there somewhere. She felt it in her gut and she couldn't move on until he saw either his living self or his corpse and so far, neither of those two things had surfaced.

Erza let out a heavy sigh as she lay on her bed, fixing her gaze on the ceiling. "Where is that blond idiot now?" she wondered.

"Blond idiot!? Well, maybe I'll just be on my way then!"

Erza shot up and directed her gaze to the window at her side only to find it empty with nothing lying beyond save for the mountains in the distance. She stood up and leaned out the window, looked from side to side, then closed it.

'I'm hearing things,' she thought before lying back down on her bed. 'That is what he would say isn't it?' The thought amused her, but she knew it had to be her mind playing tricks on her. Still, she didn't quite remember opening that window and It did come off as odd when she reached over and felt something resting beside her, a person it seemed. Her first thoughts went to him, but it couldn't be. He wouldn't have the balls to pull off such a stunt after so long.

"Yo!"

Erza turned over and locked eyes with the grinning blond lying beside her. Her mouth hung slightly open as she locked eyes with the familiar blue orbs she was both secretly fond of and at the same time wanted to rip from their sockets. "Naruto?"

"Nah I'm just a figment of your imagin- URK!"

In a blind rage, Erza head but the blond, forcing his head back with enough force to embed itself in the wall behind him slightly. A hit like that would've killed anyone else, he deduced; It WAS warranted however.

"A kiss would've been nice."

"Shut up."

Naruto grinned. "C'mon you know you wanna!"

"I do."

"Quit denying i- wait, what?"

"You heard me, but an overwhelming chunk of my being also wants to reach over, snap your neck, and dump your body in the gutters of Magnolia."

"Uh... I don't exactly know what to say there."

"Then don't speak," she said as she cracked her knuckles. "You think you can just show up after three months of making me think you were dead and think it'll all be okay?"

"I'd be lying if I said that wasn't the plan."

* * *

 **Later...**

After a vicious thrashing that left him half-dead and bleeding on her carpet that he only survived due to the benevolence of the nine-tails, Naruto sat up and readjusted his disjointed neck. He glared at the woman who in turn glared back. As their staring match continued, he slowly came to the realization that the eyes piercing through his soul weren't filled with hate but rather hurt and as a result, his own glare faltered.

"Look, I know I've been gone for a good while-" he began as he slowly brought himself to his feet before he was cut off.

"You've been alive all this time and didn't once think it would be a good idea to drop in? Maybe let us know you weren't actually dead?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"You guess? Do you know how worried we were about you; How worried I was about you? We spent a whole day scouring the beach and searching through what we could of the ocean for any sign of you!"

Naruto frowned. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry won't cut it! You... you could've at least sent a note or something!"

"I know, I should've swung by, I wasn't thinking at the time."

"Where did you go anyway?"

"Nowhere in particular, just went on a journey of self-re-discovery you know?"

That caught her off guard. "What do you mean?"

He didn't respond immediately, instead, he walked over to one of her armories before stopping in front of the manikin with the Leaf Shinobi uniform. He grabbed the headband adorned proudly on its head and stared into the reflective metal sporting the symbol he grew up under. "After what happened at the tower, I took a good long look at what I had been doing the past few years since my daughter died. Then I stopped to actually take a look at myself, what I became and what I saw... I didn't like it one bit."

Erza, who had followed along, remained silent.

"I wanted to change before I saw you again, I wanted you to see the old me and let you know I was still alive before I left."

"You're leaving again?" she asked with a hint of anger.

"My home Erza, it's... it's not looking too good. The Fire Country, if you don't know, is currently being contested between the Wind and Lightening countries. The Hidden Leaf, the village I spent the first ten years of my life in, is no more."

Erza softened upon hearing this; She knew about the war going on overseas but nothing else beyond the fact that the Wind country was on the losing side. "You plan to join them in their war?"

"Not really, I'll just deal with the assholes who're responsible for destroying my village and the even bigger assholes who think it's ok to just fight over land that was never theirs, to begin with, and cause the people who're already undergoing hard times to suffer."

The mage averted her gaze slightly from Naruto and smiled. "You really have changed."

"Hehe, thanks."

"It almost makes your presence tolerable."

Naruto grew annoyed at this and flicked her chest piece, causing her armor to vanish.

"I still never figured out how you manage to do that."

"And you never will!"

"I take back what I said, you've only slightly changed."

"Would you have it any other way?"

"No. In this state, you are at least tolerable, but still, the same man I know."

"Good to know," he said as he placed the headband back around the Manakin "Oh yeah, Jellal says he's sorry by the way... nearly forgot about that."

"What?"

"Beats me."

A round of silence befell the room.

"Well, there isn't much left to say is there? You know where I've been and where I'll be going so I guess I'll be on my way now."

"Wait."

"Hmm?"

"Will you be returning?"

"Of course I will! I'm Naruto freakin Uzumaki... is what I would like to say. But I guess I AM diving headfirst into a war, anything can happen you know?"

"That's the first time I've seen you falter in your confidence. Self-doubt doesn't suit you."

Naruto grinned and turned to the woman who was now invading his personal bubble. Of course, she wasn't unwelcome and he showed his approval by scooting closer to her.

"And worry doesn't suit you."

"I suppose not."

Another round of silence passed.

"Well I hate to cut our little reunion short and all, but I got a ferry to catch," Naruto said as he approached the window he came in from. "It was nice seeing you again Erza and... for what its worth, I'm sorry I was selfish and didn't pop up until now."

As Naruto was about to climb out the window, he was stopped by Erza who had grabbed hold of his wrist. Pulling him inside, she pressed herself against him, wrapping him in a hug.

"I should hate you after how you've made me feel, for not telling us you were alive all this time, for showing up just to tell me that you're leaving again-"

Naruto's expression fell into a frown.

"-but, I don't know why, but I can't hate you. I want to, I really and truly do, but there's something in my mind that just tells me not too and even though I know its foolish, I constantly heed its poor council against my better judgment."

"So... that's how you really feel huh? Would that be love maybe?'

"I can't call it love, I still don't believe it is, nor is it lust. Perhaps, I simply think of you as a friend, but I can never know for sure unless you confirm it for me."

Naruto nodded and grinned, bringing a hand to her cheek and guiding her face towards his own. The two stayed that way, lip-locked with another, for a solid minute before simultaneously pulling away, disappointment present in their expressions.

"Wierd huh?" he said, breaking the silence. "I was expecting... more."

"As was I."

"I guess you can't really say you love someone until you get to know them. Now that I think about it, we really don't know each other do we?"

Erza closed her eyes for a moment then nodded in agreement. "It would seem so."

"Hmm, well that's one mystery solved. Oh and uh, not saying you will, but I wouldn't want you to hold off on your love life because of me. But... I'll tell you what Erza-"

Erza perked up at this.

"I'm going to make you a promise, one that I swear on my life that I will not break like the many others before it. I promise on everything that I've ever stolen, on the lives of everyone that I've ever known, that even if you decide to move on from me, I will return."

A somber smile formed on Erza's features as she wiped away a solitary tear that had formed in her eye. "I will eagerly be awaiting that day, my friend."

With that, Naruto flashed her one final grin and leaped towards the forests beyond. Erza leaned out the window and gave him one final wave which he returned before bringing his attention to the road ahead of him leading towards Magnolia towns city limits.

He never once looked back after that last wave, and Erza didn't remove her eyes from his fleeting form until he was completely out of sight.

She pondered on whether or not it would be wise to follow him, had they not kissed she may have done just that, but with her feelings confirmed once and for all, she couldn't quite bring herself to go along with the idea. She also had a duty to be at the guild and would be leaving far too many people behind for a single man. Of course, she wished she felt differently, but the fact of the matter was that they were almost strangers simply brought together through strange and bizarre circumstances.

The feeling she felt wasn't love, but it could very well have blossomed into it with time.

Had they met at perhaps a different time, things might've gone differently. Right now she had to focus on the present and currently, she had a date offer on the table that she hadn't decided on.

"Maybe... maybe I'll give him a chance," she mumbled before shutting the window, locking it and moving to exit her room, but not before taking one last glance at the photo Naruto had taken of them during their first encounter that lay on a small table beside her door. She smiled fondly at the memory before noticing something strange about it.

She lifted the picture to find something she hadn't placed there. It was a black stringed necklace with a light-blue crystal attached to it and a small note resting at its side that read:

 _-To my favorite Red-Head Erza Scarlet_

 _I swindled some old hag out of this back in the day, had it ever since but never once wore it. Hope you're not still all goody-goody about other peoples property because I'm giving this to you! NO TAKEBACKS! Oh and uh... don't go around wearing that, you might attract the wrong kind of attention hehe... just thought I'd give you a heads up!"_

She smiled at the object before picking it up and placing it in in the drawer along with the picture and the note. With that done, she exited the room, locked it up and started towards the guild whilst thinking of the awkward conversation that was bound to ensue between her and her childhood friend.

Meanwhile, Naruto, who had just crossed the limits of Magnolia, looked back to the town and smiled. He hadn't started on the best terms with the members of the guild looming in the distance, but in the end, it was them who helped start him on the path to the road of redemption and for that, he was thankful to Fairytail.

He glanced over at his shoulder, having forgotten about the guild mark up until now, and while he could not see it, he could still visualize it.

After a moment of recollection, he started towards the path back to Hargeon town, where the story began and where it would all end.

* * *

 **THE END.**

* * *

 **And that's how I originally wanted to end it, nice and ambiguous.**

 **So, as I've said before, in my final authors note which turned out to not be my final note anyways... thank you my reviewers, followers and silent readers for giving me the confidence to continue writing. This story has been fun and I'm happy I decided to finish it the way I originally was planning on doing.**

 **Now to move on to my other stories; S-class assignment is most likely going to return once I figure out what I'm doing with it.**

 **Now with all that said, I hope you enjoyed it and I hope this final chapter felt in tune with how I've thus far portrayed these characters; I also hope you're all satisfied with the way I left the romance.**

 **Thanks for reading and following this story.**

 **Later...**


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